library  of  Che  "theological  Seminary 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 

PRESENTED  BY 

Delavan  L.  Pierson 

BR  125  . P5  1923  | 

Pierson,  Arthur  T.  1837- 
1911. 

The  Bible  and  spiritual  life 


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.  THE  BIBLE  AS  A  STRUCTURE 


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The  Bihle 

and 

Spiritual  Life 


By 

ARTHUR  T.  PIERSON 

Author  of 

Knowing  the  Scriptures 
Life  of  George  Mueller 
Seed  Thoughts  for  Public  Speakers 
Many  Infallible  Proofs,  etc. 


THE  BIOLA  BOOK  ROOM 

Bible  Institute  of  Los  Angeles 
536-558  South  Hope  Street 
Los  Angeles,  California 


Copyright  1923 

BIBLE  INSTITUTE  OF  LOS  ANGELES 


INTRODUCTION. 


Each  link  in  a  chain  is  complete  in  itself ;  but,  in 
order  to  make  a  chain,  the  links  must  overlap,  other¬ 
wise  there  is  no  continuity. 

The  addresses  which  are  reproduced  in  this  book 
are  meant  to  continue  and  complete  the  two  series 
of  “Exeter  Hall  Lectures,”  which  preceded,  on  “The 
Living  Oracles  of  God”  and  “The  Bible  and 
Spiritual  Criticism ;”  and  the  overlapping  or  partial 
repetition  is  necessary  to  indicate  and  insure  connec¬ 
tion  and  continuity  in  the  treatment  of  the  larger 
theme. 

The  main  object  of  the  initial  course  was  to  show 
that  the  Word  of  God  is  its  own  evidence  of  its 
Divine  inspiration ;  that  the  vital  breath  of  the  living 
God  makes  it  a  living  book  and  its  utterances  his 
living  oracles.  The  second  course  aimed  to  show 
that,  as  the  Bible  is  a  spiritual  book,  appealing  to 
the  spiritual  man,  rather  than  the  merely  intellectual, 
it  demands  in  the  reader  spiritual  senses  and  a 
spiritual  frame,  a  receptive,  verifying  faculty,  moral 
and  spiritual  harmony  with  its  author,  if  its  deeper 
truths  are  to  be  unveiled  and  understood. 

In  the  present  and  concluding  series,  the  aim  is 
to  show  and  illustrate  the  fact  that,  for  all  the  crav¬ 
ings  and  crises  of  man’s  moral  and  spiritual  life, 
this  Book  of  God  is  the  exact  provision,  satisfaction 
and  guide;  that  only  He  who,  having  made  man, 
knows  what  is  in  man,  could  have  made  a  book 
which  so  anticipates  and  answers  all  the  needs  ufi 
his  higher  nature. 

Arthur  T.  Pierson. 


1127  Dean  St.,  Brooklyn ,  N.  Y. 


* 


INDEX 

PAGE 

The  Bible  as  God's  Book .  1 

The  Bible  as  Man's  Book . 29 

The  Problem,  of  the  Family .  52 

The  Church  of  God .  88 

The  Problem  of  the  Individual  Man . 110 

The  World  That  Now  Is . ...133 

The  Unseen  World  of  Spirits . ,..160 

The  Problem  of  Salvation . 194 

The  Problem  of  Faith . 232 

The  Problem  of  Prayer . 2 66 

Fellowship  With  God . . . 299 

The  Problem  of  Service . 335 

The  Problem  of  Suffering . 364 

The  Problem  of  Providence . 398 


The  Mystery  of  History 


431 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING 

I.  Frontispiece  page 

II.  Structure  of  Hebrew  Old  Testament .  15 

III.  The  Concentric  Circles  of  Prophecy .  24 

IV.  Messianic  Prophecy  .  25 

V.  Three-Fold  Division  of  Both  Testaments... .  42 

VI.  Tripartite  Nature  of  Man . 116 

VII.  Constitution  of  the  Universe . 137 

VIII.  Structure  of  the  Tabernacle . 102 

IX.  Planes  of  Prayer  and  Answer . 281 

X.  The  Problem  of  Providence . 416 

XI.  The  Plan  of  The  Ages . 433 

XII.  The  Two  Advents . 452 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life 

CHAPTER  I 
The  Bible  as  God's  Book 

The  Book  and  its  Divine  Author  must  have  a  vi¬ 
tal  relation,  if  the  Bible  is  to  be  man’s  Book  in  the 
highest  sense  of  perfect  adaptation  to  all  his  spirit¬ 
ual  needs. 

As  it  becomes  us  to  lay  a  biblical  foundation  for 
all  teaching  which  concerns  the  Word  of  God,  each 
chapter  will  begin  with  a  few  leading  texts  which 
may  serve  to  hint  the  lines  of  thought  to  be  fol¬ 
lowed,  and  serve  as  a  basis  for  the  treatment  of 
each  subject. 

First  of  all,  four  of  its  grand  utterances  may 
constitute  the  basis  of  all  that  follows — a  general 
groundwork  for  the  specific  treatment  of  successive 
chapters. 

“For  ever,  O  Lord,  Thy  Word  is  settled  in 
Heaven.”  (Psalm  cxix:89.) 

This  was  Luther’s  maxim,  inscribed  on  the  walls 
of  his  chamber  and  embroidered  on  his  robe.  It 
means  that  the  Word  of  God  is  established  in 
heaven — far  above  and  beyond  the  reach  of  all  dis¬ 
turbing  causes,  as  the  stars  are  beyond  the  reach 
of  man’s  watering  pot,  and  cannot  be  quenched  by 
the  ocean  spray. 


i 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


"Thou  hast  magnified  Thy  Word  above  all  Thy 
name.”  (Psalm  cxxxviii  :2.) 

This  suggests  that,  beyond  all  other  previous 
manifestations  of  the  Divine  character  and  will, 
His  written  Word  revealed  Him.  This  was  af¬ 
firmed  of  course,  before  the  Incarnation  of  God  in 
Christ,  the  Living  Word,  had  furnished  its  final 
revelation  of  God. 

“Buy  the  Truth  and  sell  it  not.”  (Proverbs 
xxiii:23.) 

Briefly  this  bids  us  give  any  price  to  get  the 
truth,  but  take  no  price  to  part  with  it. 

“These  are  the  true  sayings  of  God.”  (Revela¬ 
tion  xix:9.) 

A  comprehensive  and  grand  description  of  the 
whole  content  and  character  of  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
repeated  and  amplified  in  the  first  words  of  the 
epilogue  to  this  closing  apocalypse:  “These  sayings 
are  faithful  and  true.”  (xxii:6.) 

Before  we  descend  to  man’s  level,  it  may  be  well 
to  glance  at  the  fitness  of  the  Bible  to  represent  its 
divine  Author  Himself.  Does  it  befit  the  “Spiritual 
Life”  of  God?  If  so,  we  shall  be  the  more  assured 
in  advance  of  its  correspondence  and  adaptation  to 
Man,  as  His  creature. 

More  surely  than  the  crown  shows  the  King,  the 
perfect  work  proves  the  skilled  workman.  Giotto 
revealed  himself  to  a  stranger  by  drawing  a  perfect 
circle  at  a  stroke,  and  Mendelssohn,  to  the  keeper  of 

2 


The  Bible  as  God’s  Book. 


the  organ  in  the  Strasburgh  Cathedral,  by  the  way 
he  made  that  organ  speak. 

Three  psalms,  i,  xix,  cxix,  extol  the  Word  of 
God.  The  first,  as  making  the  devout  reader  pros¬ 
perous  and  fruitful;  the  hundred  and  nineteenth, 
as  adapted  to  all  the  varied  experiences  of  a  believer. 
But  the  nineteenth  shows  the  Law  of  the  Lord  as  the 
mirror  of  its  Maker.  The  Psalm  is  divided  into 
three  parts — the  first  and  second  exactly  corres¬ 
pond — the  first  represents  the  material  universe  as 
the  mirror  of  His  natural  attributes;  the  second 
shows  the  written  Law  or  Scripture,  as  the  mirror 
of  His  moral  attributes.  The  dome  of  the  firma¬ 
ment  with  its  sun  and  stars  aflame  with  His  power, 
wisdom  and  eternity;  but  His  Word  is  a  grander 
Firmament  in  which  His  glory  as  a  moral  Being 
shines  as  in  constellations  of  suns. 

Here  we  touch  the  crown  of  all  arguments  for  the 
Divine  origin  of  the  Bible — the  Supreme  Evidence 
and  apologetic :  It  is  such  a  Book  as  befits  a  Divine 
Author  and  such  as  He  only  could  produce .  This 
is  a  fact  that  has  never  been  properly  weighed,  but, 
when  once  clearly  seen,  it  takes  out  of  court  all 
further  inquiry — the  case  is  closed.  There  is  one 
witness  whose  testimony  is  so  conclusive  and  irre¬ 
futable  that  to  call  any  other  would  be  an  insult  to 
the  intelligence  and  integrity  of  judge  and  jury, 
and  that  witness  is  the  Bible  itself.  Only  the  athe¬ 
istic  fool,  who  can  study  the  mechanism  celestial  and 
say  there  is  no  God,  can  search  the  Scriptures  and 

3 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


say  they  are  the  work  of  man,  for  they  present  an¬ 
other  celestial  mechanism  still  more  inexplicable 
without  a  Divine  Designer. 

In  showing  how  this  Book  of  God  harmonizes 
with  the  whole  nature  and  life  of  its  Author,  again 
we  recall  the  beautiful  tradition,  connected  with  the 
Westminster  Assembly  of  1643,  that,  when  it  was 
needful  to  frame  an  answer  to  that  august  question, 
“What  is  God?”  Rev.  George  Gillespie,  one  of  the 
four  Scotch  commissioners,  and  the  youngest  mem¬ 
ber  of  the  assembly,  being  asked  to  lead  in  prayer 
for  divine  guidance,  began  with  a  sentence  which 
was  unanimously  adopted  as  the  best  possible 
answer : 

“O  God,  who  art  a  Spirit,  infinite,  eternal  and 
unchangeable,  in  Thy  Being,  wisdom,  power,  holi¬ 
ness,  justice,  goodness  and  truth.” 

Taking  this  sentence  as  an  outline  portrait  of  the 
Divine  Being,  the  correspondence  of  the  Word  of 
God  with  the  features,  here  drawn,  is  marvelously 
complete.  Let  us  put  them  side  by  side. 


God  Is 
A  Spirit, 

Infinite, 

Eternal, 

Unchangeable ; 


The  Word  of  God 
Deals  with  Spiritual  Verities ; 
Transcends  all  bounds  of  Time 
and  Space; 

Illumines  the  Past,  Present  and 
Future ; 

Teaches  immutable  laws  and 
principles ; 

4 


The  Bible  as  God’s  Book. 


In  His  Being, 
Wisdom, 
Power, 
Holiness, 
Justice, 
Goodness, 
Truth. 


Is  the  Mirror  of  Divine  Person¬ 
ality  ; 

Reflects  His  omniscience,  and 
foresight ; 

His  omnipotence  and  miracle 
working ; 

His  perfection  of  moral  charac¬ 
ter; 

His  absolute  rectitude  in  admin¬ 
istration  ; 

His  Benevolence  and  Benefi¬ 
cence  ; 

His  infinite  Veracity  and  Fidel¬ 
ity. 


This  hasty  glance  suffices  to  show  how  the  best 
definition  of  God  that  rran  has  perhaps  ever  framed 
finds  in  the  Bible  an  exact  reflection  of  all  the  ele¬ 
ments  believed  to  enter  into  the  most  complete  and 
exalted  conception  of  the  Divine  Character  and  Per¬ 
sonality. 

There  are  a  few  passages  of  Scripture  which 
may  add  further  confirmation  to  this  proof  that  in 
His  Word,  God  is  wondrously  revealed. 

“Hear,  O  Israel,  Jehovah,  our  God,  is  One  Jeho¬ 
vah.”  (Deut.  vi:4.) 

This  is  meant  to  be  conspicuous.  These  words 
form  the  beginning  of  the  Shama  (“Hear”)  of  the 
Jewish  Services,  and  belong  to  the  daily  morning 

5 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


and  evening  office.  Indeed,  they  have  been  termed 
the  “Jewish  Creed.”  Their  expression  in  the  He¬ 
brew  is  singular  in  terseness  and  force:  “Jehovah, 
our  Elohim,  Jehovah  one.”  If  they  are  differently 
construed,  it  is  owing  to  their  very  dignity,  majes¬ 
ty  and  brevity.  They  contain  far  more  than  a  mere 
statement  of  the  unity  of  God,  as  opposed  to  poly¬ 
theism  ;  or  of  the  supremacy  of  the  revelation  made 
to  His  chosen  people,  as  opposed  to  all  pretended 
manifestations  of  His  will  and  essence.  Here  is  a 
majestic  assertion  that  Jehovah  God  is  absolutely 
and  alone  the  God,  beyond  causation  or  competi¬ 
tion,  sovereign  and  undisputed.  The  last  letters  of 
the  first  and  last  words  of  this  verse  are,  in  the  or¬ 
iginal,  majascula,  i.  e.,  written  larger  than  the  ordi¬ 
nary  size,  and  these  two  majascula  form  together  a 
word,  signifying  “witness,”  (“Ed.”  Josh.  xxii:34), 
construed  by  the  Jewish  commentators  as  highly  sig¬ 
nificant,  importing  that  this  utterance  is  a  witness  for 
the  faith,  or  that  God  is  challenged  as  a  witness  to 
the  sincerity  and  correctness  of  him  who  utters  it. 

This  is  therefore  one  of  the  marked  sentences 
of  the  Old  Testament,  and  deserves  to  be  written  in 
large  capitals.  It  asserts  in  the  Divine  Being  a 
peculiar  unity — the  unity  of  solitariness,  of  inap¬ 
proachable  perfection,  of  absolute  independence  of 
another  and  of  consistency  with  Himself.  It  sug¬ 
gests  also  the  unity  of  perfect  symmetry  and  beauty 
to  which  nothing  can  be  added,  from  which  nothing 
can  be  subtracted. 


The  Bible  as  God’s  Book. 


If  the  Bible  is  God’s  Book,  we  shall  find  in  it  a 
corresponding  unity.  It  will  reveal  a  certain  soli¬ 
tariness,  standing  alone,  amid  all  other  books,  as 
having  a  character  of  its  own ;  it  will  be  complete 
in  itself,  and  exhibit  symmetry  of  proportion  and 
evidence  of  a  divine  plan  and  purpose,  forbidding 
all  addition  or  subtraction. 

The  pyramid  of  Cheops  is  still,  as  of  old,  one  of 
the  Seven  Wonders  of  the  World.  It  seems  to 
have  been  built,  mainly,  as  a  royal  sepulchre,  but 
having  also  astronomical  and  scientific  ends,  for  the 
structure  is  carefully  oriented,  its  sides  facing  the 
cardinal  points,  and  the  angle  of  its  entrances 
pointing  to  the  North  Star.  It  took  from  twenty  to 
thirty  years  to  complete,  and  employed  at  a  time  a 
hundred  thousand  workmen;  and,  as  there  were 
four  relays  of  workmen  a  year,  millions  must  have 
helped  to  build  it.  Yet  there  was  but  one  proper 
architect,  however  many  workmen. 

The  Word  of  God  is  a  massive  pyramid,  which 
it  took  centuries  to  build,  and  it  has  not  only  out¬ 
lived  millions  of  other  books,  but  rises  solitary 
above  all  other  monuments  of  literature.  It  is 
marked  by  a  peculiar  unity  of  purpose  and  of  struc¬ 
ture.  It  is  supremely  the  Book  of  Salvation.  What¬ 
ever  subordinate  ends  it  serves,  its  lines  all  con¬ 
verge  in  one  point.  Its  capstone,  like  its  corner¬ 
stone,  is  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  alone  can  com¬ 
plete  and  crown  it. 

Aside  from  this,  in  every  part  it  exhibits  unity  of 

7 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


character  and  design.  It  has  a  symmetry,  unac¬ 
countable  except  as,  behind  all  the  forty  human 
writers  and  more  than  sixty  books,  one  architectural 
mind  planned  it  and  carried  the  plan  to  completion. 
Its  proportions,  like  those  of  an  ideal  structure,  are 
mathematical,  and  show  a  mathematical  mind.  How¬ 
ever  many  human  pens  contributed  to  its  contents, 
there  must  have  been  some  one,  independent  of  the 
bounds  of  time  and  space,  and  above  the  reach  of 
all  that  changes,  who  is  its  original,  responsible 
Author. 

A  chart  (No.  i)  accompanies  this  chapter,  which, 
however  rude  and  crude  as  a  drawing,  and  with¬ 
out  pretensions  as  a  work  of  art,  is  meant  to  pre¬ 
sent  to  the  eye  this  conception  of  the  structural 
unity  of  the  English  Bible.  It  shows  the  five  books 
of  the  Pentateuch  like  basal  blocks,  surmounted  by 
the  twelve  minor  books  of  history  from  Joshua  to 
Esther;  then  the  five  poetic  books,  from  Job  to 
Solomon’s  Song;  then  the  five  major  prophetic,  and 
the  twelve  minor  prophetic  books;  above  these  the 
five  historical  books — the  New  Testament  Penta¬ 
teuch;  and  above  these  the  twenty-one  Epistles, 
with  the  Apocalypse  crowning  the  whole  as  a 
dome.* * 

The  recurrence  of  certain  numbers  in  this  struc¬ 
tural  arrangement  is  very  noticeable,  such,  for  ex- 


♦Compare  “The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Criticism,”  chapter 

•  •• 
vtu. 


S 


The  Bible  as  God’s  Book. 


atnple  as  five ,  which  reappears  at  four  points  con¬ 
spicuously.  But  we  shall  find  the  same  number  in 
individual  books,  as  in  the  five  sacrifices  or  offer¬ 
ings  in  Leviticus,  the  five  books  which  the  Jews 
call  the  Pentateuch  of  the  Psalms, t  and  where  they 
trace  in  the  psalm  which  opens  each  division,  a  like¬ 
ness  to  the  successive  books  of  Moses.  Again  we 
see  this  fivefold  arrangement  in  Job’s  five  trials,  in 
Solomon’s  five  experiments  in  Ecclesiastes,  and  in 
the  five  parts  of  the  book  of  Proverbs.  There  are 
also  five  Epistle  writers  of  the  New  Testament, 
Paul,  James,  Peter,  John  and  Jude,  and  as  many 
great  themes  which  they  especially  represent,  such 
as  Faith,  Hope,  Love,  good  works,  and  the  perils 
of  apostasy. 

This  mathematical  law,  pervading  the  book,  is  at 
least  a  hint  of  the  mathematical  mind  of  the  author, 
who  reveals  the  same  regard  to  the  symmetry  of 
number  and  form  in  the  material  universe.  The 

v 

planetary  and  stellar  worlds  Kepler  found  to  obey 
the  strictest  mathematical  laws,  fixed  proportions 
existing  between  their  respective  sizes,  orbits,  and 
distances  from  the  sun  and  from  each  other.  In  bot¬ 
any,  mineralogy,  vegetable  and  animal  structure, 
there  is  the  same  universal  law  of  mathematical 
arrangement  and  proportion;  so  that  the  natural 
inference  is  that  since  the  Creator  of  nature  is  the 


fPsalms  i-xli;  xlii-lxxii;  lxxiii-lxxxix ;  xc-cvi;  cvii-cl. 

9 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


Author  of  the  Bible,  similar  marks  of  His  mind  will 
appear  in  both. 

While  referring  to  the  numerical  structure  and 
mathematical  peculiarities  of  the  Bible,  it  may  be 
well  to  add  that  no  less  a  man  than  Rev.  Edward 
Hayes  Plumptre,  M.  A.,  Prof,  of  Divinity  in  King's 
College,  London,  and  Examining  Chaplain  to  the 
Bishop  of  Gloucester  and  Bristol,  after  a  most  care¬ 
ful  and  scholarly  examination  of  the  numbers  and 
proportions  of  the  Tabernacle  writes  thus: 

“Dimensions  also  had  their  meaning.  Difficult  as 
it  may  be  to  feel  sure  that  we  have  the  key  to  the 
enigma,  there  can  be  but  little  doubt  that  the  older 
religious  systems  of  the  world  did  attach  a  mysteri¬ 
ous  significance  to  each  separate  number,  that  the 
training  of  Moses  must  have  made  that  transpar¬ 
ently  clear  to  him  which  to  us  is  almost  impenetrably 
dark.”  It  may  be  useful,  he  adds,  to  exhibit  briefly 
the  chief  thoughts  which  have  been  connected  with 
the  numbers  that  are  most  prominent  in  the  lan¬ 
guage  of  symbolism. 

The  following  are  his  equivalents: 

One. — The  Godhead,  Eternity,  Life,  Creative 
Force,  the  Sun,  Man. 

Two. — Matter,  Time,  Death,  Receptive  Capacity, 
the  Moon,  Woman. 

Three. — As  a  number  or  in  the  Triangle,  the 
universe  in  connection  with  God,  the  absolute  in  it¬ 
self,  the  unconditioned,  God. 

Four. — The  number  or  in  the  square  or  cube, 

io 


The  Bible  as  God’s  Book. 


Conditioned  Existence,  the  World  as  Created,  Di¬ 
vine  Order,  Revelation. 

Seven. — As  the  sum  of  three  and  four,  the  union 
of  the  World  and  God,  Rest,  as  in  the  Sabbath, 
Peace,  blessing,  purification. 

Ten. — As  the  sum  of  i  +  2  +  3  4>  Complete¬ 

ness  moral  and  physical,  Perfection. 

Five.-— Perfection  half  attained,  incompleteness. 

Twelve.— The  multiple  of  3X4,  the  Signs  of 
the  Zodiac,  the  Cycle  of  the  Seasons,  in  Israel  the 
ideal  number  of  the  people,  of  the  covenant  of  God 
with  them. 

The  symbol,  the  perfect  cube  of  the  Holy  of  Ho¬ 
lies,  the  constant  recurrence  of  the  numbers  4  and 
10,  may  well  be  accepted  as  symbolizing  order,  sta¬ 
bility,  perfection.  The  symbol  reappears  in  the 
apocalypse.  There  the  heavenly  Jerusalem  is  de¬ 
scribed  in  words  which  absolutely  exclude  the  lit¬ 
eralism  which  has  sometimes  been  blindly  applied 
to  it,  as  a  city  four  square,  12,000  furlongs  in  length, 
breadth  and  height.  (Rev.  xxi:i6.)  (1,378.97 
English  miles.) 

Mathematics  pertains  to  eternal  truth,  for  we 
cannot  imagine  any  system  of  things  where  two  and 
two  do  not  equal  four,  or  the  three  interior  angles 
of  a  triangle  do*  not  together  equal  two  rectangles. 
We  must  conclude  therefore  that  the  same  God  is 
behind  nature  and  Scripture. 

Far  more  important  is  the  moral  structure  of 
the  Bible.  In  the  first  words  of  the  first  book  we 


11 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


read:  “IN  THE  BEGINNING,  GOD;”  and  this  is 
the  keynote  to  all  that  follows.  God  is  the  universal 
starting  point,  for  truth,  authority,  worship,  obedi¬ 
ence,  knowledge  and  duty.  There  are  at  least  seven 
grand  ideas  around  which  all  this  system  of  truth 
centralizes  and  crystallizes;  such  as  the  ideas  of 

1.  God,  one,  supreme,  incomparable,  incompre¬ 
hensible,  eternal. 

2.  Man,  His  creation,  and  originally  in  His  im¬ 
age  and  likeness. 

3.  Sin,  making  man  and  God  aliens,  by  destroy¬ 
ing  all  unity. 

4.  God-Man,  the  representative  incarnation  of 
God  in  Sinless  Man. 

5.  Man,  reconciled  to  God,  in  the  God-Man  re¬ 
stored  to  harmony. 

6.  God  in  man,  by  the  Holy  Spirit  imparting  the 
Divine  Nature. 

7.  God  over  man,  finally  restored  to  supremacy  as 
Sovereign. 

This  is  very  imperfect  as  an  outline,  but  it  serves 
to  suggest  a  wide  territory  for  thought  and  study. 
Bengel  said  that  some  twenty  words  so  pervade 
Scripture  that  to  master  their  meaning  is  to  unlock 
its  hidden  chambers.  So,  about  these  seven  central 
ideas,  we  may  arrange  all  the  moral  and  spiritual 
contents  of  this  Divine  Book.  How  is  it  conceivable 
that  such  unity  of  substance  in  the  book  can  be  ac¬ 
counted  for,  except  by  one  infinite  Teacher  ?  Mani¬ 
festly  it  was  impossible  for  the  scores  of  human 


T2 


The  Bible  as  God’s  Book. 


contributors  to  its  contents  to  confer,  and  combine 
their  efforts  so  as  to  preserve  this  substantial  agree¬ 
ment  in  their  standards  of  truth  and  duty.  This 
unity  of  Scripture,  despite  all  the  natural  and  human 
hindrances,  thus  appears  from  every  point  of  view, 
in  that  mystery  of  form  which  is  both  inclusive  and 
exclusive,  admitting  only  what  is  helpful  to  that 
unity  of  plan  but  embracing  all  that  conduces  to  it. 

This  we  account  one  of  the  foremost  proofs  of  the 
superhuman  origin  of  Scripture.  For  example,  the 
grand  object  in  view  is  to  reveal  God  to  man  so  as 
to  draw  man  into  vital  and  loving  relation  with 
God.  Hence,  the  Book  deals  with  God  as  man’s 
Creator  and  rightful  Ruler ;  with  man,  as  His  crea¬ 
ture  and  rightful  subject;  with  man  as  alien  from 
God;  and  with  God,  as  necessarily  hostile  to  man 
as  a  sinner,  because  of  His  own  essential  hatred  of 
sin ;  with  the  God-Man  as  the  personal  medium  and 
mediator  for  God’s  approach  to  man  and  man’s  to 
God;  with  man  as  in  Him  reconciled  to  God,  mak¬ 
ing  possible  God’s  harmony  with  man.  Then  it  re¬ 
veals  God  as  dwelling  in  man  by  His  Holy  Spirit, 
and  finally  ruling  over  redeemed  man  in  a  Heavenly 
Kingdom.  Thus,  from  first  to  last,  the  truth  and 
history  advance  steadily  to  the  consummation. 

Some  careful  readers  think  they  see  this  orderly 
arrangement  even  in  the  minutice  of  the  Word  of 
God,  so  that  nothing  is  out  of  place ;  and  discover  so 
many  details  in  which  a  systematic  plan  is  revealed 
that  there  seems  danger  of  fanciful  inventions  tak- 

T3 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


ing  the  place  of  discoveries.  But,  after  making  all 
allowance  for  such  possible  extremes,  it  still  re¬ 
mains  true  that  every  new  advance  in  the  reverent 
and  prayerful  study  of  this  book  is  attended  with 
a  new  advance  in  appreciation  of  its  contents.  To 
him  who,  as  in  the  Yosemite  Valley,  gets  the  true 
“Inspiration  Point”  from  which  to  command  a  view 
of  the  whole,  every  part  of  the  book  is  seen  to  bear 
a  harmonious  relation  to  every  other,  and  all  to¬ 
gether  to  constitute  a  unique  revelation  of  God. 

God  might  naturally  be  jealous  of  His  own  in¬ 
spired  Word,  and,  as  He  turneth  the  hearts  of  men 
whithersoever  He  will,  we  may  expect  that,  as  a 
pilot  holds  the  helm  of  his  vessel  through  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  wind  and  wave,  the  Divine  Author 
would  guard  His  Book,  controlling  historic  events 
with  reference  to  its  completeness  and  determining 
the  order  in  which  book  after  book  should  find  its 
way  into  the  canon.  The  careful  student  of  the 
j English  Bible  cannot  but  observe  that  in  so  many 
cases  the  order  of  the  books  is  inseparable  from  the 
progress  of  doctrine ,  that,  although  it  is  not  exactly 
the  order  of  arrangement  of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek 
originals,  the  Author  seems  by  His  providence  to 
have  guided  even  in  this  canonical  arrangement  of 
the  English  Version. 

As  a  matter  of  convenience,  the  English  Bible 
has  been  made  the  basis  of  the  chart  on  the  struc¬ 
ture  of  the  Word  of  God,  partly  because  this  is  the 
version  that  is  actually  in  the  hands  of  English 

14 


-3 


V 


( 


’THE  WRITINGS’ 
’PSALMS” 


+  »l 


“THE  PROPHETS’ 


’tHE  LAW’ 


The  Bible  as  God’s  Book. 


readers,  and  partly  because  we  believe  that  God  had 
a  purpose  in  permitting  this  version  to  assume  its 
present  form.  Notwithstanding  the  violation  of  the 
chronological  order,  a  logical  order  is  followed  that 
can  hardly  be  accidental  or  fortuitous.  God  must 
have  foreseen  that  the  English  Bible  as  we  have  it, 
would  become  the  model  for  most  of  the  translations 
into  other  languages ;  and  it  is  a  singular  fact  that 
such  is  the  case  in  the  five  hundred  such  translations 
now  extant.  Hence  the  order  of  books,  as  they  ap¬ 
pear  in  this  English  version,  as  He  foresaw,  becomes 
the  fixed  arrangement  for  the  nations  of  the  world. 
Is  it  too  much  to  believe  therefore  that,  for  reasons 
of  His  own,  this  order  was  allowed  to  displace  the 
chronological,  and  also  the  order  of  the  original 

Hebrew  canon  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  most  ad- 

<■? 

apted  to  the  general  purpose  for  which  the  complete 
Bible  is  designed?  We  feel  confident  that  a  Provi¬ 
dential  control  is  to  be  traced  in  the  determination 
of  this  latest  arrangement.  It  may  be  interesting, 
however,  for  students  of  Scripture  to  compare  the 
chronological  arrangement,  and  that  of  the  Hebrew 
Old  Testament  with  that  of  the  Word  of  God  as  we 
have  it,  and  hence  we  add  a  second  diagram  showing 
the  books  in  this  order,  following  the  arrangement 
of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  in  the  Old  Testament, 
as  the  Jews  had  them,  arranged  as  the  “Law,”  the 
“Prophets,” and  the  sacred  “writings.”  (Diagram  II.) 

The  correspondence  of  the  Two  Testaments  is 
itself  a  fascinating  field  of  research  which  has  been 

15 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

treated  with  singular  success  by  such  men  as  Adolph 
Saphir,  in  his  “Divine  Unity  of  the  Scripture.” 
There  is  a  Hebrew  and  a  Greek  portion;  the  old  is 
preparatory,  typical,  prophetical ;  the  new  is  supple¬ 
mental,  experimental,  final.  The  old  is  patent  in  the 
new,  while  the  new  is  latent  in  the  old.  In  the  for¬ 
mer  God  the  Father  is  conspicuous,  the  Son  appear¬ 
ing  only  in  forecast,  and  the  Spirit  in  occasional  and 
official  manifestations ;  in  the  new,  the  Son  and  Spir¬ 
it  come  into  such  prominence  that  this  new  Revela¬ 
tion  of  God  almost  fills  the  horizon  of  view.  The  old 
Testament  reminds  of  the  Ark,  floating  over  waters 
of  judgment  and  saving  a  chosen  few;  the  new,  of 
the  emergence  of  that  few  to  re-people  and  subdue 
the  earth.  In  the  old,  the  great  thought  is  separa¬ 
tion,  preservation,  conservation;  in  the  new,  dis¬ 
semination,  promulgation,  evangelization.  The  old 
covenant  aimed  to  keep  God’s  people  faithful  to 
Him  by  keeping  them  apart  from  other  peoples; 
but  the  new  covenant  sends  them  out  into  the  midst 
of  all  nations  that  they  may  win  men  to  Him.  In 
hundreds  of  particulars  the  contrast  is  obvious, 
while  it  is  as  plain  that  the  two  Testaments  belong 
as  halves  to  one  whole,  and  neither  can  be  com¬ 
plete  in  itself.  The  oak  may  displace  the  acorn,  but 
it  grows  out  of  it  and  must  find  root  in  the  grave 
of  the  acorn,  and  will  die  if  it  is  removed  from  that 
burial  place  of  the  seed,  or  is  cut  off  from  its  roots 
in  the  original  germ.  If  the  Old  Testament  has  de¬ 
veloped  to  majestic  beauty  and  completeness  in  the 

16 


The  Bible  as  God’s  Book. 


New,  it  is  still  true  that  the  germinal  suggestions  of 
all  New  Testament  truth  lie  in  the  Old  Testament 
soil.  Even  what  has  undergone  change  has  elements 
of  permanence,  for  it  is  only  the  figurative  passing 
into  the  literal;  prophecy  fulfilling  in  history,  fore¬ 
cast  merging  into  actual  event,  one  jot  or  tittle  in 
no  wise  passing  from  the  law  till  all  is  fulfilled  in 
the  Gospel. 

The  Bible,  as  the  Book  of  God,  may  be  expected, 
as  has  been  said,  in  brief,  already,  to  be  the  mirror 
of  His  attributes.  It  is  obvious  that  the  great  God 
could  not  produce  a  Book,  even  through  human 
agency,  without  leaving  upon  it  some  unmistakable 
marks  of  His  own  Divinity,  somewhat  as  Michael 
Angelo,  in  his  famous  cartoons,  which  were  drawn 
by  pupils  from  his  designs,  shows  everywhere  the 
traces  of  his  hand,  not  only  in  grandeur  of  concep¬ 
tion,  but  in  details  of  form  and  color,  where  his  own 
brush  has  supplemented  and  completed  their  work. 

There  are  certain  attributes  of  God  which  are 
inseparable  from  His  being  and  of  which  we  think 
instinctively  when  God  is  mentioned  or  suggested, 
such  as  His  Eternity ,  Omniscience,  Sovereignty,  In¬ 
finity,  Omnipotence. 

He  is  the  one  Being  who  passes  all  finite  bounds — 
bounds  of  Time  in  His  eternal  existence — bounds  of 
finite  knowledge  in  omniscience — bounds  of  human 
power  in  omnipotence — bounds  of  human  control  in 
Sovereignty. 

The  most  careless  examination  of  this  book  shows 

1 7 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


us  that  for  once  we  have  in  hand  a  volume  that, 
more  than  any  other,  deals  in  eternal  things — more 
than  that,  which  is  singularly  indifferent  to  human 
limitations  of  time.  In  the  Word  of  God,  Past, 
Present  and  Future  are  all  in  a  sense  one.  Even  in 
the  use  of  tenses  of  verbs,  the  future  is  described  in 
the  language  of  the  present  or  even  the  past.  In  the 
fifty-third  chapter  of  Isaiah  the  sufferings  of  Christ 
are  outlined,  eight  hundred  years  before  his  birth; 
yet,  from  the  tenses  it  is  impossible  to  discover 
whether  the  prophet  is  portraying  present  facts  or 
facts  of  past  time. 

"He  hath  no  form  nor  comeliness. 

He  is  despised  and  rejected  of  men. 

He  hath  borne  our  griefs  and  carried  our  sorrows. 

He  was  oppressed  and  he  was  afflicted. 

Indeed,  so  prominent  are  these  present  and  past 
tenses  that  we  could  not  be  sure  that  a  future  Mes¬ 
siah  is  referred  to,  but  for  the  definite  statements  in 
the  New  Testament  where  this  language  is  quoted 
and  applied  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  from  which 
we  learn  "these  things  said  Isaiah  when  he  saw  His 
glory  and  spake  of  Him”  (John  xii:4i). 

Assuming  that  God  is  the  author  of  the  Book, 
all  this  is  plain.  He  is  the  I  AM  to  whom  all 
past  and  future  events  are  present;  as  Dr.  Watts 
wrote : 

"Eternity  with  all  its  years 
Stands  present  in  Thy  view, 

18 


The  Bible  as  God’s  Book. 


To  Thee  there’s  nothing  old  appears— 
Great  God,  there’s  nothing  new.” 

Or  as  we  might  say,  with  more  fullness  of  expres¬ 
sion, 

Eternity  transcends  all  finite  bounds  of  Time. 

Knows  nothing  of  Duration,  with  successive 
years ; 

Before  Thy  vision,  panoramic  and  sublime, 

Past,  present,  future,  at  one  glance  appears; 
Unnumbered  cycles  pass  before  Thy  view; 

The  new  is  as  the  old,  the  old  is  as  the  new. 

This  thought  it  is  impossible  to  express  prop¬ 
erly,  because  it  is  impossible  to  think  it  adequately, 
and  human  words  are  but  the  body  of  human 
thought,  its  incarnation.  But  one  can  understand, 
if  God  speaks  through  man,  how  He  will  use  man’s 
imperfect  language  in  a  new  and  strange  way  that 
is  to  man  contradictory  and  paradoxical.  One  can 
understand  also  how  it  is  that  an  inspired  prophet 
is  a  seer — one  who  sees  what  is  beyond  man’s  vis¬ 
ion.  He  looks  back  into  an  pre-historical  past,  like 
Moses,  and  pictures  a  Creative  process  which  could 
not  be  described  by  a  human  observer,  because  it 
had  no  such  observer,  for  it  antedated  man’s  Crea¬ 
tion.  Or  the  seer  looks  forward  into  a  future  that 
has  not  only  no  history  but  as  yet  no  reality,  alike 
without  observer  and  as  yet  without  occurrence,  and 
describes  it  even  in  detail  with  as  much  accuracy 

19 


/ 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


and  certainty  as  though  he  were  narrating  what 
is  actually  taking  place  before  his  eyes. 

And  so,  likewise,  the  inspired  seer  sees  the  pres¬ 
ent,  past  and  future  in  their  relations  mutually, 
because  he  sees  through  God’s  eyes.  “When  the 
prophet  foretells  the  future,  he  presents  the  fu¬ 
ture  in  the  light  of  the  present;  when  he  admon¬ 
ishes  or  reproves,  he  presents  the  present  in  the 
light  of  the  future.”* 

The  perfection  of  God  implies  also  His  immut¬ 
ability.  “I  am  Jehovah !  I  change  not.”  He  can¬ 
not  change  for  the  better,  for  that  implies  present 
imperfection,  and  possible  improvement;  He  can¬ 
not  change  for  the  worse,  since  that  implies  de¬ 
generation.  He  is  “the  same  yesterday  and  to-day 
and  forever.” 

His  book  therefore  mirrors  this  unchanging  im¬ 
mutability.  It  abounds  in  changeless  elements. 
Number  enters  largely  into  its  very  structure  be¬ 
cause  number  belongs  to  what  is  eternal.  Two 
things  belong  to  the  unchangeable — mathematics 
and  morals.  As  we  cannot  conceive  a  material  sys¬ 
tem  where  mathematical  truths  do  not  rule,  we 
cannot  imagine  a  moral  system  anywhere,  in  which 
a  lie  is  as  right  as  truth,  where  selfishness  is  as 
beautiful  as  benevolence  and  where  virtue  and  vice 
are  equally  worthy  of  honor.  Hence  again  we 
find  the  word  of  God  embodying  the  immutable — 


*Edersheim. 


20 


The  Bible  as  God’s  Book. 


an  unchanging  Ethical  system.  The  Ten  Com¬ 
mandments  were  written  by  the  finger  of  God  upon 
tables  of  stone,  to  indicate  that  they  were  change¬ 
less  and  eternal  principles  of  life.  Wax  tablets 
were  commonly  used  for  transient  records,  but  how 
easily  can  their  records  be  erased,  or,  to  use  a  bible 
word,  ‘‘blotted  out,”  simply  by  inverting  the  stylus 
and  passing  its  flat  blade  where  the  point  had  gone. 

The  Omniscience  of  God  is  thus  reflected  in  Bib¬ 
lical  forecasts  of  the  future. 

Biblical  predictions  stand  that  fourfold  test  which 
makes  all  imposture  impossible :  remoteness  of  time, 
minuteness  of  detail,  novelty  of  combination  and 
mystery  of  contradiction.  According  to  the  laws 
of  compound  probability,  the  more  than  three  hun¬ 
dred  and  thirty  particulars,  recorded  in  the  Old  Tes¬ 
tament,  and  in  their  complete  form  in  the  hands 
of  the  Jews  both  in  the  Hebrew  and  Septuagint 
versions  hundreds  of  years  before  the  birth  of 
Christ,  concerning  the  Messiah,  must  have  had  an 
inspired  origin.  A  master  mathematician,  calcu¬ 
lating  the  problem  of  probabilities,  makes  the 
chances  of  accidental  fulfilment  or  coincidence, 
over  a  million  multiplied  into  itself  fifteen  times — 
against  one!* 

These  are  only  the  predictions  concerning  Christ; 
but  these  constitute  but  half  of  the  complete  body 
of  biblical  prediction.  Here  are  six  hundred  par- 

*His  exact  statement  is  13,367  followed  by  9 7  digits, 
against  one. 


21 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


ticular  items  of  forecast,  Scattered  over  from  ten 
to  twenty  centuries,  presenting  combinations  wholly 
without  historic  precedent  or  parallel,  and  often 
couched  in  paradoxes  so  inexplicably  contradic¬ 
tory  that  they  were  enigmas  even  to  the  prophet 
himself,  unexplained  until  events  solved  the  mys¬ 
tery.  And,  as  constructive  design  proves  one  orig¬ 
inal  and  supreme  Planner  and  Builder,  far  above 
all  human  workmen,  so  the  supernatural  vision  of 
the  seers  compels  us  to  admit  a  higher  Intelligence 
than  man's.  Omniscience  alone  can  account  for 
such  an  insight  and  foresight.  Reason  is  over¬ 
whelmed  by  the  proofs  of  the  superhuman  origin 
of  the  Word  of  God.  Granting  the  Bible  to  be  a 
divine  product,  it  befits  the  Author.  It  reflects 
not  only  His  unity,  infinity,  eternity,  immutability, 
but  also  His  knowledge.  It  is  such  a  book  as  be¬ 
fits  an  omniscient  God. 

As  we  shall  consider  further  on,  there  are  evi¬ 
dences  that  the  Bible  is  a  divine  book  which  de¬ 
mand  spiritual  sympathy  with  God  to  perceive  and 
receive;  a  like  nature  with  Himself  being  the  ver¬ 
ifying  faculty,  the  subjective  response  to  the  ob¬ 
jective  proof.  But  there  are  other  forms  of  evi¬ 
dence  which  address  the  natural  man  and  need  on¬ 
ly  a  candid  mind,  like  an  open  eye,  to  feel  their 
force,  and  are  manifestly  meant  to  satisfy  honest 
inquiry  and  furnish  a  reasonable  answer  for  our 
faith. 

To  one  of  these  emphatic  reference  has  been 

22 


The  Bible  as  God’s  Book, 


made,  in  the  fact  of  Constructive  Design.  In  the 
structure  of  the  Bible  as  a  whole  we  detect  a  cer¬ 
tain  unity  and  symmetry,  system  and  plan,  that 
preclude  the  possibility  of  its  production  by  a  hu¬ 
man  author. 

To  another  of  these  forms  of  evidence  we  are 
now  turning  attention,  namely  predictive  prophecy, 
which  is  itself  alone  sufficient  to  accredit  the  Bible 
as  superhuman. 

This  is  a  much  neglected  department  of  evidence. 
The  ancient  prophets  being  not  only  teachers,  but 
seers,  had  supernatural  vision,  and  it  was  not  only 
predictive,  but  retrospective;  they  looked  backward 
as  well  as  forward,  and  thus  commanded  the  whole 
horizon  of  history  past  and  future.  The  Divine 
Author  puts  such  peculiar  value  and  emphasis  on 
this  supernatural  vision  of  past  and  future  as  an 
evidence  of  inspiration,  that  in  the  prophecies  of 
Isaiah  alone  He  seven  times  challenges  any  false 
and  idolatrous  faith  or  cult  of  the  world  to  produce 
any  other  seers  like  unto  His,  who  can  show  “form¬ 
er  things”  or  “latter  things”;  whose  vision  reaches 
back  to  ages  before  history  began,  or  forward  to 
ages  not  yet  historic. 

This  subject  of  predictive  prophecy  has  had  fuller 
treatment  in  the  preceding  series  of  these  Bible 
lectures.*  But  a  summary  of  the  argument  may 


♦“The  Living  Oracles  of  God,”  chapters  iv,  v,  vi.  “The 
Bible  and  Spiritual  Criticism,”  chapter  ix. 

23 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


not  be  out  of  place  in  this  connection,  especially 
as  two  charts  are  now  added  to  exhibit  this  sys¬ 
tem  of  inspired  prediction  to  the  eye.  The  in^ 
disputable  evidence  afforded  by  prophecy  is  not 
appreciated  at  its  full  value.  It  alone  would,  if 
mastered,  make  candid  intellectual  doubt  impos¬ 
sible. 

Diagram  III  represents  the  Concentric  circles  of 
Prophecy .  The  outside  circle,  the  predictions  of 
Noah  as  to  the  general  history  of  the  race,  its  three 
primeval  streams,  the  Semitic,  Japhetic  and  Ham- 
itic;  the  next  circle,  the  several  nationalities  that 
both  geographically  and  historically  are  associated 
with  the  Jews;  then  yet  inside,  the  Jews  themselves, 
their  predictions  being  for  convenience  in  seven 
sections ;  and  the  innermost  circle,  the  prophecies 
about  Christ,  which  are  represented  more  fully  on 
diagram  IV  which  again  is  divided  into  seven  sec¬ 
tions. 

The  theme,  thus  presented  in  visible  form,  is  in¬ 
exhaustible.  Noah,  in  about  forty  words  (Genesis 
ix  125-27 )  briefly  forecast  the  whole  course  of  hu¬ 
man  history.  Then  subsequent  prophets,  notably 
those  belonging  to  the  so-called  prophetic  era  from 
the  days  of  David  to  Malachi,  foretold  the  doom 
of  the  various  nations  that  were  historically  inter¬ 
linked  with  the  Jews.  With  even  greater  partic¬ 
ularity  Moses  foresaw  and  his  successors  amplified 
the  whole  future  of  God's  chosen  people;  and,  most 
important  of  all,  from  Genesis  iii  115,  where  Jeho- 

24 


\ 


vn 

'Final  Victory' 
Last  Battle 
Last  Judgment 
Ruin  of  Foes 

City  of  God 
Harmony  of  All 

The  End 


I 

FIRST  ADVENT 

Born  a  babe 
of  a  Virgin 
at  Bethlehem 
within  490 years 

definiteline 
Low  Estate 
Worship. 


VI 

Second  Advent 

Epiphany 
Resurrection 
Judgements 

Downfall  Antichrist 
Restoration  Jevre 
Saints  Rewards  ascension 

Adoration 
Pentecost 
Sovereignty 
Conflict  Past 

Advocate. 


T 


■n 


IV 

resurrection' 

Corruption 
Victory 
Third  Day 
First  Fruits 
Testimony 
Eighth  Day 


H 

PERSON 
God-Man 
Sevenfold  name: 
Last  Adam 
Three  offices 
Traits,Human 
Traits  Divine 
Anointing, 


HI 

PASSION 
Despised 
Betrayed 
Sold  ror  Price 
Condemned 
Crucified 
Disposition  of  Body 
Voluntary 

Vicarious* 


The  Bible  as  God’s  Book. 


vah  Himself  is  the  prophetic  speaker,  and  the  por¬ 
trait  of  the  Messiah  as  the  promised  seed  of  the 
woman  is  drawn  in  outline,  prophet  succeeds  proph¬ 
et  until  there  is  no  longer  any  “open  vision,”  each, 
as  an  inspired  artist,  adding  some  new  detail  of 
drawing  or  coloring,  until  the  majestic  portrait  is 
complete. 

Beside  arguments  of  this  class,  which  address  the 
Reason,  and  may  be  called  the  Rational  proofs, 
there  is  another  class  which  appeal  to  the  heart, 
and  may  be  called  the  Experimental .  These  de¬ 
pend  upon  the  voice  and  verdict  of  experience. 
This  proof  is  subjective  rather  than  objective,  and 
takes  its  point  of  view  from  within  rather  than  from 
without.  Many  of  the  features  of  the  Word  of  God 
may  be  seen  from  without,  by  the  mere  observer, 
as  one  may  study  the  stately  form  and  proportions 
of  a  cathedral;  but  there  are  other  attractions  vis¬ 
ible  only  after  one  enters,  like  the  combinations  and 
colors  of  some  exquisite  rose  window  which  need 
the  sunlight  shining  through,  to  be  revealed  in  all 
their  patterns  and  hues.  These  appeal  not  to  the 
mere  observer  but  to  the  believer. 

To  this  class  of  evidences  only  experiment  can 
introduce.  It  is  a  humiliating  fact,  declared  in  the 
Word  of  God  itself,  that  even  “the  princes  of  this 
world,”*  cannot  discern  these  spiritual  beauties,  be¬ 
cause  they  do  not  take  their  stand  within.  Here 


*i  Cor.  ii. 


25 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


is  a  whole  hemisphere  of  scripture  truth  that,  to  the 
natural  man,  is  an  Apocrypha — hidden,  until  faith, 
leading  to  obedience  and  begetting  experience, 
makes  it  an  Apocalypse — revealed.  Divine  illum¬ 
ination  must  assist  the  natural  powers.  Only  he 
who  willeth  to  do  His  will  knoweth  this  teaching,! 
and  hence  the  psalmist’s  prayer,  “Open — unveil — 
Thou  mine  eyes  that  I  may  behold  wondrous  things 
out  of  Thy  Law.”! 

'  To  this  class  of  proofs  we  are  now  to  turn  al¬ 
most  exclusive  attention,  in  the  chapters  that  re¬ 
main.  Our  Lord  declares  that  obedience  not  only 
precedes  this  higher  knowledge  but  is  itself  the  or¬ 
gan  of  such  higher  revelation,  so  that  only  when 
and  so  far  as  we  obey,  do  we  or  can  we  know  the 
doctrine.  Even  the  teacher  must  “do”  as  well  as 
“teach”  if  he  is  to  reach  the  highest  competency  for 
his  work  of  instruction,  testing  for  himself  the 
truth,  and  seeking  to  be  all  he  would  have  others 
be.  No  parrot-like  repetitions  of  these  grand  pre¬ 
cepts  will  suffice;  we  must  be  not  only  messengers 
but  witnesses.  To  him  that  knows  by  experience 
there  comes  a  subtle  power  of  testimony,  which, 
like  the  perfume  of  a  flower,  however  indescribable, 
is  unmistakable,  and  carries  an  authority  which  is 
close  akin  to  inspiration  itself.  Such  a  witness  can 
reverently  say,  with  his  Master,  “We  speak  that 
we  do  know  and  testify  that  we  have  seen.”  It  is 


$Psalm  cxix:i8. 

26 


fjohn  vii:i7. 


The  Bible  as  God's  Book. 


such  personal  witness,  born  of  experience,  that  is 
sometimes  practically  resistless.  In  the  breaking  up 
of  a  Siberian  winter,  not  even  the  return  of  the  sun 
after  the  long  night  suffices  to  unloose  the  icy  bonds, 
until  the  soft  south  wind  breathes  its  charm,  and 
then  Nature  is  freed  from  her  wintry  fetters.  It  is 
when  the  gospel  message  has  incarnated  itself  in  a 
believer’s  character  and  life  that  it  melts  hard  hearts 
and  sets  prisoners  free.  Even  supernatural  Light 
itself  may  fail  to  subdue  and  transform,  until  that 
subtler  influence  of  Love  is  exercised  and  finds 
response.  Then  light,  love  and  life  together  bathe 
our  being  as  in  the  beams  of  the  sun  of  Righteous¬ 
ness,  and  lo,  the  winter  is  past,  and  the  reign  of 
Death  is  over  and  gone. 

Here  then  we  leave  this  part  of  our  theme,  al¬ 
ready  more  fully  treated  in  the  volumes  which  pre¬ 
cede.  But,  before  closing  this  chapter  it  may  be 
well  to  state  briefly  and  succinctly  a  few  leading  rea¬ 
sons  for  our  unshakable  conviction  and  confidence 
in  the  Bible,  as  God’s  inspired  and  infallible  Book. 

1.  Its  unity  of  structure,  numerically  and  arith¬ 
metically,  ethically  and  organically. 

2.  Its  Divine  insight  and  foresight,  the  whole  sys¬ 
tem  of  retrospective  and  predictive  prophecy,  with 
its  general  and  specific  forecasts  of  the  future,  and 
especially  the  Messiah. 

3.  Its  Philosophy  of  History — its  unfolding  of 
God’s  plan  of  the  ages,  revealing  a  redemptive  pur¬ 
pose  carried  out  in  divine  performance. 

27 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


4.  Its  Moral  Structure- — meant  as  a  guide  to  man, 
his  counterpart  and  counsellor,  and  self-interpreting. 

5.  Its  matchless  Example  of  the  perfect  Man,  in 
whom  all  prophetic  lines  converge,  and  all  exam¬ 
ples  and  models  of  human  excellence  find  their  pro¬ 
totype. 

6.  Its  survival  as  a  living  book  amid  the  wreck 
and  ruin  of  ancient  literature,  having  both  an  in¬ 
destructible  vitality  and  a  life-giving  power. 

7.  Its  regenerating  and  saving  power;  its  tri¬ 
umphs  over  the  individual  and  in  the  community, 
in  every  age  and  clime. 

Philosophers  insist  on  their  doctrine  of  the  ade¬ 
quate  hypothesis:  that  if  any  supposition,  being  ap¬ 
plied  to  the  mystery  of  facts,  proves  an  adequate 
solution  and  accounts  for  them  all,  it  may  be  accept¬ 
ed  as  the  truth.  And  we  are  sure  that  the  key  that 
unlocks  what  no  other  can  is  the  key  that  was  made 
and  meant  for  the  lock.  Without  this  one  solution 
— that  God’s  mind  and  hand  are  behind  the  Bible — 
the  book  is  a  hopeless  enigma.  With  this  key  in 
hand,  every  closed  door  is  unlocked  and  the  cham¬ 
bers  of  mystery  become  chambers  of  revelation. 


28 


s  CHAPTER  II. 

The  Bible  as  Man's  Book. 

If  the  Book  befits  its  divine  Author,  does  it  equal¬ 
ly  befit  the  human  reader? 

Again  we  begin  by  laying  a  scriptural  platform 
for  our  discussion: 

“Have  not  I  written  thee  excellent  things  in  coun¬ 
sels  and  knowledge  ?  That  I  might  make  thee  know 
the  certainty  of  the  words  of  truth,  that  thou  might- 
est  answer  the  words  of  truth  to  them  that  send 
unto  thee"  (Proverbs  xxii:20,  21). 

“Thy  word  is  a  lamp  unto  my  feet  and  a  light 
unto  my  path"  (Psalm  cxix:io5). 

“Thou  hast  the  words  of  Eternal  Life"  (John 
vi:68). 

“Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard, 

Neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man, 

The  things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that 
love  Him: 

But  God  hath  revealed  them  unto  us  by  His  Spirit." 

(1  Corinth.  ii:9,  10.) 

These  four  texts  may  serve  to  teach  progressive 
truth:  First,  that  God  has  given  words  of  supreme 
wisdom  that  we  might  attain  unto  certainty  for  our¬ 
selves,  and  help  others  to  certainty  by  giving  an  in¬ 
telligent  and  rational  answer  to  those  who  inquire 
after  knowledge.  Then,  that  in  His  Word,  we  have 

29 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


a  guide  book  for  daily  and  hourly  direction.  To 
the  obedient,  it  is  a  lamp  to  the  feet,  for  the  next 
step;  and,  as  we  go  forward  like  a  man  carrying  a 
lantern,  it  casts,  light  upon  the  path  ahead  as  we 
need  it.  Moreover,  within  the  compass  of  Holy 
Scriptures  are  found  the  words  of  Christ,  the  secrets 
of  eternal  life;  and  here  the  Holy  Spirit  is  ac¬ 
tually  working,  to  illumine  both  His  own  Book  and 
the  reverent  and  obedient  reader. 

“  ‘Order  is  Heaven’s  first  law’ ;  and  the  second 
is  like  unto  it :  that  everything  serves  an  end. 
This  is  the  sum  of  all  science.  These  are  the  two 
mites,  even  all  that  she  hath,  which  she  throws  into 
the  treasury  of  the  Lord,  and,  as  she  does  so  in 
faith,  Eternal  Wisdom  looks  on  and  commends  the 
deed.”* 

A  kindred  truth  in  the  spiritual  sphere  we  seek 
now  to  express  and  enforce.  In  the  inspired  Word  of 
God  is  exhibited  a  divine  order.  It  is  a  cosmos  of 
orderly  arrangement  and  symmetrical  proportion, 
not  a  chaos  of  confusion,  with  contradictory  teach¬ 
ing  and  irreconcilable  inconsistency.  But,  beside 
order,  there  is  adaptation.  Everything  has  an  end, 
and  serves  a  definite  purpose.  What  that  grand 
end  is  and  how  the  divine  Volume,  in  every  part, 
answers  to  its  mission,  it  will  be  the  one  supreme 
aim  to  exhibit  and  illustrate. 

More  specifically,  this  Book  of  God  is  pre-emi- 


*“Typical  Forms  in  Creation,”  Dr.  James  McCosh,  p.  30. 

30 


The  Bible  as  Man’s  Book. 


nently  the  Book  of  man.  It  is  God’s  message  to 
man — written  with  omniscient  knowledge  of  man’s 
nature  and  need,  with  infinite  wisdom  as  to  the  best 
way  to  meet  all  man’s  problems,  and  with  perfect 
love  to  assure  a  sympathetic  and  gracious  ministry 
to  his  fallen  condition.  Hence  we  may  expect  to 
find  not  only  that  everything  in  this  Book  serves 
an  end  in  man,  but  that  everything  in  man  is  served 
by  something  in  the  Book. 

This  we  account  a  wonderful  feature  in  this  most 
wonderful  Book :  that  it  exactly  finds  man’s  deepest 
need  and  as  exactly  fits  into  it.  It  pierces  to  the 
mysterious  realm — the  dividing  asunder  of  soul  and 
body. 

The  adaptation  of  the  Bible  to  man’s  needs  and 
nature  is  part  of  its  perfection,  yet  it  explains  what 
some  account  its  imperfection. 

This  is  a  proper  point  in  our  discussion  to  re¬ 
move  some  of  the  stumbling  blocks  of  misconcep¬ 
tion.  We  are  wont  to  associate  imperfection  with 
everything  human.  If,  therefore,  there  be  in  the 
Bible  a  necessary  human  element,  how  can  it  be 
an  absolutely  perfect  book? 

In  2  Timothy  iii:i6,  all  scripture  is  said  to  be 
“God-inbreathed,”  and  the  reference  seems  to  be  to 
man’s  creation,  when  God  made  man  out  of  the  dust 
of  the  ground,  and  inbreathed  the  breath  of  lives 
(original),  and  man  became  a  living  soul.  Here 
is  a  compound  product :  a  body  of  earth  and  a  breath 
of  God.  Somewhat  so,  God  made  the  body  of  His 

3i 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


Word  out  of  earthly  elements,  human  letters  and 
language,  words  and  sentences,  but  inbreathed  His 
Holy  Spirit,  so  that  the  Book  became  a  living  book. 

As  to  perfection,  there  are  two  kinds,  absolute 
and  relative:  absolute  perfection  admits  no  possible 
improvement  in  any  direction;  relative  perfection  is 
that  of  perfect  adaptation  to  a  purposed  end.  When 
the  perfection  of  God’s  Word  is  affirmed,  we  are 
not  competent  to  say  whether  or  not  He  could  have 
made  a  more  perfect  book  in  itself,  but  the  deter¬ 
minative  question  is  whether  He  could  have  better 
fitted  it  for  its  end,  in  reaching  and  teaching  men. 

This  distinction  is  vital  to  our  understanding  of 
the  subject.  The  Creator,  it  is  conceivable,  might 
have  made  a  more  magnificent  world  than  this — as 
Shakespeare  expresses  it,  “of  one  entire  and  per¬ 
fect  chrysolite” — radiant  with  rainbow  hues,  a  crys¬ 
tal  sphere  of  light;  but  such  a  globe  would  have 
been  unfit  for  man’s  habitation  and  home,  relative¬ 
ly  imperfect  because  absolutely  perfect.  He  might 
make  a  more  beautiful  member  than  the  hand,  per¬ 
haps,  but  part  of  its  beauty  lies  in  its  manifold  uses, 
made  with  equal  fitness  to  hold  the  poet’s  pen,  the 
artist’s  pencil,  the  sculptor’s  chisel,  or  the  mechan¬ 
ic’s  tool,  to  dig  a  ditch  or  play  a  harp,  to  lift  a 
weight  or  press  another  hand  in  love.  It  is  very 
doubtful  if  God  ever  made  anything  more  perfect, 
for  its  purpose. 

So,  we  may  conceive  a  book,  spoken  into  being, 
glorious  like  Himself,  and  in  a  heavenly  dialect, 

32 


The  Bible  as  Man’s  Book. 


untouched  by  any  finite  hand,  human  or  angelic,  and 
by  its  divine  lustre  repelling  finite  approach,  like 
the  scroll  in  the  hand  of  Him  who  sat  upon  the 
throne  in  Apocalyptic  vision.  But  who  on  earth 
could  have  read  it  or  even  stood  before  such’ a  book! 
Its  absolute  perfection  would  only  unfit  it  for  hu¬ 
man  uses,  and,  even  if  man  could  have  read  it,  he 
could  not  have  understood  it.  Therefore  God,  in 
making  a  book  for  man,  used  men  to  write  it,  and 
human  language  as  the  medium  of  expression.  If 
it  lacks  absolute  perfection,  it  is  in  order  to  its  rel¬ 
ative  perfection  as  man’s  counsellor  and  guide. 

Another  stumbling  block  is  found  in  “Inspiration” 
which  even  intelligent  people  often  mistake  to  mean 
that  every  statement  in  the  Bible  has  God’s  sanction. 
There  are  obviously  a  thousand  utterances  and  ac¬ 
tions  recorded  in  God’s  Word  that  carry  no  ap¬ 
proval,  and  some  of  which  are  expressly  con¬ 
demned.  In  this  case,  inspiration  covers  the  accura¬ 
cy  of  the  narrative  but  not  the  approval  of  the 
word  or  deed.  Even  verbal  inspiration  means  only 
that,  in  the  composition  of  the  book,  the  Spirit  of 
God  so  controlled,  as  that  the  language  used  by  the 
writers  should  convey  the  divine  meaning  and  not 
pervert  it,  for  careless  expression  sometimes  does 
injustice  to  a  grand  conception,  and  a  wrong  word 
may  obscure  or  even  obstruct  a  thought.  We  need 
to  think  of  Inspiration  in  a  threefold  aspect:  first, 
where  it  guarantees  the  truth  of  the  record  only,  not 
the  sentiment  expressed,  as  when  the  Devil  tempted 

33 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


Eve ;  second,  where  it  approves  a  motive  or  act,  be¬ 
cause  it  was  according  to  the  light  then  enjoyed, 
though  not  conformed  to  the  highest  ideals,  or  per¬ 
fectly  accordant  with  the  will  of  God  as  afterwards 
revealed.  Solomon  seems  to  have  gathered  many 
of  his  “Proverbs”  from  uninspired  sources,  and 
they  are  embodied  in  this  divine  book,  because,  so 
far  as  they  go,  they  are  wise  though  they  do  not 
reveal  the  highest  wisdom,  and  are  partly  meant  to 
show  that  even  the  best  of  human  sages  cannot 
show  unto  us  the  way  of  salvation.  David,  in  zeal 
for  God,  told  Nathan  of  his  purpose  to  build  a 
house  for  the  Lord,  and  Nathan  bade  him  “go  on, 
for  the  Lord  is  with  thee.”  Had  we  no  further  rec¬ 
ord,  we  should  gather  that  the  whole  matter  had 
the  Lord’s  approval.  But  we  are  expressly  told 
that  He  forbade  David  to  carry  out  his  design. 
He  comforted  him,  however,  by  approving  his  mo¬ 
tive:  “it  was  well  that  it  was  thine  heart.” 

There  is,  however,  a  higher  sanction  of  Inspira¬ 
tion.  Whenever  it  covers  a  direct  “Thus  saith  the 
Lord ”  the  whole  narrative,  with  all  its  contents, 
carries  the  divine  sanction,  and  every  word  spoken 
or  act  done  is  by  His  authority.  The  careful  reader 
of  God’s  word  must,  therefore,  learn  to  discriminate. 
He  must  draw  proper  lines  of  demarkation  between 
narratives  of  the  sayings  and  doings  of  fallible  men 
with  all  their  mistakes  and  errors,  which,  like  the 
forty  years’  unbelief  and  disobedience  of  Israel  in 
the  desert,  are  “written  for  our  learning”  and  “ad- 

34 


The  Bible  as  Man’s  Book. 


monition  ;w  and  the  authoritative  utterances  of  God, 
whether  in  His  own  person  or  through  inspired 
prophets  and  historians  and  teachers.  The  whole 
contents  of  the  Bible,  as  we  believe,  carry  a  divine 
authority,  but  not  every  sentiment  found  therein,  a 
divine  approvals— a,  distinction  which  needs  only  to 
be  once  drawn,  to  be  seen  and  accepted. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  pursue  our  main  in¬ 
quiry:  Is  the  Bible  divinely  fitted  to  be  man’s 
book,  the  lamp  to  his  feet,  the  light  to  his  path  ?  Is 
there  any  important  problem,  pertaining  to  our  tem¬ 
poral  or  spiritual  life  and  well  being,  for  which  we 
can  find  here  no  excellent  words  of  counsel  and 
knowledge  ? 

In  examining  this  adaptation  to  human  wants,  we 
begin  with  the  individual  man,  and  afterwards  ad¬ 
vance  to  consider  its  fitness  for  the  regulation  of  man 
in  his  collective  capacity,  in  the  family,  church  and 
state. 

In  the  natural  world  we  have  seen  the  two  grand 
arguments  for  an  intelligent  and  personal  creator 
to  be  order  and  design;  all  being  articulated  togeth¬ 
er  in  an  orderly  system,  and  everything  serving  a 
distinct  and  definite  end.  In  the  Word  of  God  and 
throughout  it  similar  laws  prevail:  all  the  contents, 
however  apparently  disjointed,  belonging  to  a  per¬ 
fectly  organic  order  and  system,  and  everything  be¬ 
ing  appointed  to,  and  fitted  for,  a  specific  purpose. 
The  more  exhaustive  the  study  of  details,  the  more 
sublimely  perfect  does  this  adaptation  appear;  and 

35 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

all  that  fallows  is  meant  to  illustrate  this  fact,  that 
the  Book  which  thus  befits  God  as  its  author,  equal¬ 
ly  befits  man  as  its  reader. 

Here  the  two  famous  sayings  of  Coleridge  and 
Hallam  recur  to  mind,  that  the  Book  of  God  is 
equally  the  Book  of  man  because  it  finds  him  as  no 
other  does  in  his  deepest  being,  and  fits  all  the 
strange  crooks  and  corners  of  his  peculiar  individual 
life. 

As,  at  the  beginning  of  the  first  chapter,  the  ques¬ 
tion,  “What  is  God?”  found  a  grand  answer  in  the 
Westminster  Catechism,  so,  at  the  outset  of  this  dis¬ 
cussion  of  the  Bible,  as  man’s  Book,  we  may  simi¬ 
larly  ask,  What  is  man?  and  may  follow  the  lines  of 
the  previous  definition  in  contrasting  man  and  God. 

Man  is  a  created  Being,  embracing  body,  soul 
and  spirit,  finite,  temporal  and  mortal,  one  who  is 
born  and  dies;  mutable,  subject  to  constant  change 
in  himself  and  his  surroundings ;  prone  to  folly,  and 
ignorant,  weak  and  impotent,  a  sinner  by  nature  and 
habit;  naturally  unrighteous  and  unjust,  selfish  and 
malevolent,  deceiving  and  being  deceived. 

To  every  aspect  of  his  character  and  condition  the 
Word  of  God  is  marvellously  fitted. 

1.  As  a  created  Being,  it  introduces  him  to  his 
Creator ,  acquaints  him  with  his  relations  to  Him, 
and  his  duty  and  obligation  toward  Him. 

2.  As  a  complex  being,  here  he  is  taught  the  re¬ 
lations  of  spirit,  soul  and  body;  how  the  spirit  may 
be  indwelt  by  God’s  Holy  Spirit  and  rule  the  soul, 

36 


The  Bible  as  Man’s  Boot. 

and  through  the  soul,  the  body;  the  whole  man 
thus  brought  into  subjection  to  God,  and  the  lower 
nature  to  the  higher. 

3.  As  a  finite  being,  the  Word  of  God  teaches 
man  his  comparative  littleness  in  God’s  sight,  his 
limited  faculties,  and  inculcates  humility  and  de¬ 
pendence  on  Infinite  Resources. 

4.  As  a  creature  of  time,  born  to  die,  the  Bible 
teaches  him  to  make  life  here  the  vestibule  to  Life 
Beyond,  and  use  the  temporal  with  reference  to  the 
Eternal,  assuring  him  that  the  gift  of  God  is  Eter¬ 
nal  Life  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

5.  As  a  being  subject  to  change,  here  is  revealed 
how  all  changes  for  the  better  may  be  secured,  and 
for  the  worse,  avoided ;  and  how  all  changes  of  sur¬ 
roundings  and  experience  may  serve  to  discipline 
and  chasten  the  spirit  for  a  future  and  changeless 
existence  in  a  perfect  state. 

6.  As  to  one  who  is  ignorant  and  unwise,  the 
Bible  reveals  the  higher  certainties  of  knowledge, 
and  imparts  wisdom  from  above  for  every  crisis, 
laws  of  heaven  for  life  on  earth. 

7.  As  to  one  who  is  weak  and  impotent,  it  reveals 
divine  strength  as  made  perfect  in  weakness  and 
shows  us  how  to  link  impotence  to  Omnipotence. 

8.  As  a  sinner,  it  unfolds  to  him  a  way  of  salva¬ 
tion,  so  complete  that  it  assures  us  of  deliverance 
from  the  penalty,  power  and  presence  of  sin ;  and  so 
simple  in  its  terms  as  to  be  available  to  all  who  need 
salvation  and  will  accept  /  it  as  God’s  gift. 

37 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


9.  As  one  who  is  unrighteous  and  unjust  it  gives 
to  man  a  perfect  code  of  law  and  presents  a  perfect 
example  of  both  faultless  obedience  and  beauty  of 
character. 

10.  As  a  being  who  lacks  goodness,  it  teaches  him 
unrivalled  lessons  of  unselfish  Love,  and  an  ex¬ 
ample  of  self-oblivion  and  self-sacrifice  absolutely 
without  a  parallel. 

*  11.  As  one  who  is  prone  to  untruth  and  insin¬ 

cerity,  this  Book  teaches  the  lips  to  utter  and  the 
heart  to  love  truth  and  honesty,  and  magnifies  child¬ 
like  simplicity  and  guilelessness. 

Thus  at  every  point  of  our  definition  we  find  the 
Word  of  God  exactly  suited  to  man’s  nature  and 
need. 

There  is  a  story  of  a  magic  mirror  in  which 
every  man  saw  himself  reflected,  not  as  in  an  ordi¬ 
nary  glass,  but  a  historical  reflection,  where  his 
whole  history,  outer  and  inner,  was  revealed  at  a 
glance.  Many  were  the  long  journeys  which  curi¬ 
osity  prompted  men  and  women  to  make  from  far- 
off  corners  of  the  earth  to  see  themselves  in  that 
magic  reflector. 

That  magic  mirror  is  the  Bible.  In  its  pages  each 
man  may  see  his  moral  and  spiritual  history  re¬ 
vealed,  his  secret  thoughts  and  desires  and  aims,  so 
that  it  has  more  than  once  happened  that  a  heathen 
reader  coming  into  contact  with  the  Word  of  God 
has  actually  suspected  the  missionaries  of  the  fraud 
of  trying  to  palm  off  as  an  ancient  book  some  de- 

38 


The  Bible  as  Man’s  Book. 


scription  of  heathenism  as  they  had  seen  it  them¬ 
selves. 

But  the  Bible  is  not  only  a  mirror;  it  is  also  a 
mould  of  character.  It  shows  us  what  we  are,  that 
it  may  shape  us  as  we  ought  to  be.  Hence  (in 
Romans  vi:i8)  we  read  of  those  who  were  once 
“servants  of  sin,”  but  who  have  from  the  heart 
yielded  themselves  to  that  mould  of  doctrine,  or 
teaching,  into  which  they  had  been  delivered,  as  is 
the  true  meaning  and  rendering  of  that  significant 
verse.  What  a  sign  of  a  divine  book,  that  it  should 
exhibit  our  real  inmost  character  as  sinners,  expos¬ 
ing  all  our  follies  and  faults,  analyzing  our  motives 
and  impulses,  not  to  make  us  despair,  but  to  lead 
us  to  hope ;  and  the  same  Word  that  at  one  moment 
mirrors  our  depravity  and  makes  us  shudder  at  the 
self-revelation,  at  another  moment  becomes  the  ma¬ 
trix  or  mould  in  which  we  take  a  new  form  accord¬ 
ing  to  godliness ! 

More  even  than  this,  the  Bible  is  milk  and  meat 
for  the  growth  of  the  disciple — milk  for  the  babe — 
food  which  has  passed  through  another’s  digestion 
and  can  be  easily  assimilated — and  strong  meat  for 
the  man  who  knows  how  to  meditate,  which  is  the 
way  spiritually  to  masticate  the  food.  This  pre¬ 
cious  book  contains  the  simplest  truths  for  the 
little  child,  that  require  no  developed  understanding 
to  receive  and  appropriate.  For  example,  the  seven 
words  which  describe  the  way  of  becoming  a  disci¬ 
ple:  “Look”  “Hear,”  “Take,”  “Taste,”  “Come,” 

39 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


"Choose,”  “Trust” — is  there  any  little  child  who 
cannot  understand  them?  And  they  all  mean  “to 
receive.”  The  eye  receives  by  looking;  the  ear,  by 
hearing ;  the  hand,  by  taking ;  the  mouth,  by  tasting, 
etc.  A  little  child  who  knows  enough  to  take  the 
hand  of  a  strong  man  to  lead  him  in  the  dark,  or  to 
give  up  a  heavy  load  to  a  strong  arm  to  carry  for 
him,  knows  enough  to  bring  the  burden  of  sin  to 
Jesus  and  trust  Him  to  lead  and  guide  him. 

i  There  are  other  truths,  so  deep,  high,  grand,  that 
the  greatest  and  wisest  may  spend  life  in  searching 
and  never  fully  find  out  all  their  meaning.  There 
is  a  great  sea  of  love  in  God  that  even  angels  have 
never  sounded;  and  so  as  we  grow  we  find  truth 
that  needs  all  our  powers  to  master,  and  repays  all 
study  and  laborious  search. 

Blessed  is  he  who,  like  a  tree  planted  by  the  rivers 
of  waters,  takes  up  the  teaching  of  Gods  Word 
and  transforms  it  into  holy  living. 

The  fitness  of  the  Bible  for  man  is  manifold.  Tak¬ 
ing  it  as  a  whole,  we  first  notice  that  there  are 
Two  Testaments,  together  constituting  one  Book, 
and  singularly  fitted  to  each  other  and  to  human 
need. 

The  Old  Testament,  characteristically  a  book  of 
Law  and  Promise ,  presents  to  sinful  man  a  perfect 
moral  code,  the  effect  of  which  is  mainly  to  show 
how  far  he  falls  short  of  it;  becoming  practically, 
not  so  much  mould  of  his  character  and  conduct 
as  the  mirror  of  his  sin  and  guilt.  Side  by  side 

40 


The  Bible  as  Man’s  Book. 


with  this,  however,  is  a  promise  and  forecast  of 
Redemption — of  a  Ransomer — a  Second  Man  and 
Last  Adam,  in  whom  in  God’s  mysterious  way  Sal¬ 
vation  shall  come  to  the  sinner  and  a  new  righteous¬ 
ness.  All  this  is  marvelously  set  forth  in  a  kind 
of  visible,  spectacular  parable  that  we  call  Ceremo¬ 
nial  Law,  and  a  singular  structure,  called  the  “Tab¬ 
ernacle  of  Meeting” — so  that,  before  the  eye  as 
well  as  ear  the  great  leading  facts  and  truths  of  this 
Redemption  by  Blood  were  exhibited  in  a  series  of 
scenes,  sacrifices,  fasts  and  festivals ;  and  in  a  regu¬ 
lar  order  year  by  year. 

Then  the  New  Testament,  as  characteristically, 
is  a  book  of  Grace  displayed  and  Promise  fulfilled. 
What  was  exhibited  in  a  legal  standard  unattainable 
by  sinful  man  is  there  exemplified  in  a  perfect  Life 
— and  what  was  forecast  in  prophecy  and  pictorial 
rites  and  forms  is  now,  without  such  a  parable, 
exhibited  in  the  actual  death  and  resurrection  of  the 
Lamb  of  God,  Christ  our  Passover  slain  for  us. 
Thus  the  curiosity  and  inquiry,  stimulated  by  the 
Old  Testament,  is  met  and  answered  by  the  plain 
facts  and  explicit  teachings  of  the  New. 

Then  each  Testament  is  in  three  parts  more  or 
less  marked :  each  begins  with  a  historical  portion, 
followed  by  a  practical,  ethical  and  experimental  sec¬ 
tion;  and  concludes  with  an  apocalyptic  or  pro¬ 
phetical  part.  The  five  books  of  the  Pentateuch 
and  the  twelve  that  follow  form  the  historical,  in 
the  Old  Testament;  the  Poetical  books,  the  ethical 

4i 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


and  the  prophecies  from  Isaiah  to  Malachi,  the 
prophetical.  The  five  historical  books  that  begin 
the  New  Testament  correspond  to  the  Pentateuch, 
and  the  Revelation  to  the  prophetical,  and  all  the 
epistles,  from  Romans  to  Jude,  form  the  ethical  and 
practical  division.  Of  course  these  divisions  over¬ 
lap,  as  prophecies  and  precepts  are  found  scattered 
through  the  historical  and  conversely ;  still,  the  lines 
of  division  are  clear. 

Here  is  a  marked  fitness  both  as  to  God  and  man. 
For  the  historical  befits  Him  who  was;  the  ethical, 
Him  who  is,  and  the  prophetical,  Him  who  is  to 
come;  while  these  three  parts  supply  to  man  a 
knowledge  of  the  Past,  a  guide  for  the  Present,  and 
a  forecast  of  the  Future.* 

The  completeness  and  progress  of  biblical  teach¬ 
ing  is  continually  exhibiting  itself  to  the  careful 
reader. 

Take  as  an  example  the  five  poetical  books  known 
as  devotional  and  experimental.  They  form  a  dis¬ 
tinct  division  and  department  in  our  English  Bible, 
and  it  is  astonishing  how  complete  they  are  and  how 
together  they  leave  out  nothing  and  yet  embrace 
nothing  not  needful  to  completeness.  Man  has  mor¬ 
ally  and  spiritually  five  imperative  needs :  he  has 
to  experience  adversity  and  he  needs  compensation 
and  consolation.  He  has  to  meet  a  variety  of  ex¬ 
periences  and  needs  a  universal  Refuge.  He  has  to 


*See  diagram  V. 


42 


The  Bible  as  Man’s  Book. 


solve  countless  moral  problems  and  needs  a  key  to 
unlock  them.  He  meets  many  forms  of  disappoint¬ 
ment  and  needs  a  satisfying  portion.  He  has  to  con¬ 
front  the  snares  of  the  world  and  needs  a  spiritual 
Presence.  These  five  wants  are  successfully  and  suc¬ 
cessively  met  in  these  five  books.  In  Job  we  have  a 
man  encountering  a  fivefold  mystery  of  suffering  and 
finding  comfort  and  final  deliverance  in  a  vision  of 
God.  In  Psalms  we  have  every  variety  of  heart  his¬ 
tory,  with  God  interpreting,  and  giving  the  soul  sat¬ 
isfaction.  In  Proverbs,  human  wisdom  utters  its 
voice  and  shows  how  far  it  can  go,  and  the  need  it 
cannot  supply  met  by  the  Wisdom  from  above.  In 
Ecclesiastes  every  experiment  is  made  to  find  in  this 
world  something  beside  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit, 
but  only  heavenly  verities  are  found  to  give  symme¬ 
try  to  character  and  conduct.  Then  in  Solomon’s 
Song  the  believer  feels  the  mighty  attractive  force  of 
this  world,  but  finally  turns  from  all  else  to  find  hap¬ 
piness  in  the  invisible  God  and  the  unseen.  Thus  all 
soul  cravings  are  met,  and  when  these  five  books 
have  been  studied,  the  soul  of  man  finds  all  great 
perplexities  solved. 

Take  again  the  five  books  of  Major  Prophecy. 

Nothing  in  the  future  interests  the  believer  as  does 
the  whole  career  of  the  Messiah  and  its  relation  to 
His  redeemed  people.  The  Word  of  God  teaches 
that  it  begins  in  Humiliation  and  Suffering  and 
ends  in  Glory — and  that  between  the  cross  and 
crown  lie,  in  church  history,  two  great  periods — 

43 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


one  of  decline  and  another  of  restoration  for  the 
people  of  God.  Isaiah  portrays  His  sufferings  and 
death  especially  and  their  first  fruits;  Daniel  par¬ 
ticularly  emphasizes  the  final  triumph  of  the  King; 
and  Jeremiah  and  Ezekiel  are  respectively  the  proph¬ 
ets  of  Declension  and  Restoration. 

The  five  books  of  the  New  Testament  form  by 
themselves  a  complete  historical  introduction  not 
only  to  the  New  Testament,  but  to  the  life  of  faith. 

In  Ezekiel’s  vision  of  “the  Glory  of  the  Lord” 
(Chap,  ix),  he  sees  a  complex  creature  with  four 
heads — those  of  a  lion,  calf,  man  and  eagle,  and 
the  whole  pervaded  by  the  invisible,  all  controlling 
Spirit. 

Whether  designed  or  not,  these  first  five  books 
singularly  correspond  to  that  vision.  Matthew 
presents  our  Lord,  as  the  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah ; 
Mark,  as  the  Sacrificial  Calf;  Luke,  as  the  Man 
among  Men ;  John,  as  the  Eagle,  soaring  to  heavenly 
heights  and  gazing,  unblinded  at  the  sun  itself;  and 
in  the  Acts,  we  see  the  Spirit  of  Life  moving  in  all 
the  complex  mechanism  of  Christian  life  and  church 
enterprise.  This  correspondence  can  scarcely  be 
due  to  chance  coincidence.  It  hints  the  deeper  unity 
of  the  Two  Testaments.  It  shows  how  even  pro¬ 
phetic  visions  wait  for  New  Testament  explana¬ 
tions  and  unveilings. 

But,  more  than  this,  there  is  here  as  elsewhere  a 
progress  of  doctrine.  Matthew  addresses  the  He¬ 
brew  mind,  for  it  was  of  first  consequence  to  link  on 

44 


The  Bible  as  Man’s  Book. 


Old  Testament  prediction  to  New  Testament  fulfil¬ 
ment.  Mark  follows,  writing  specially  for  the  Ro¬ 
man,  showing  the  power  of  Christ  to  save  and  his 
obedience  unto  death — Luke,  addressing  the  Greek 
presents  Him  as  the  ideal  of  virtue  and  beauty,  the 
perfect  man ;  hence  the  pathetic  touches  that  re¬ 
veal  His  sympathy  and  compassion  (vii,  xv,  xix, 
etc.).  John  follows  with  the  vindication  of  His 
deity. 

In  the  Acts,  we  have  a  sort  of  biography  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  corresponding  to  the  Gospel  records, 
and  showing  how,  over  a  similar  period  of  about 
one-third  of  a  century,  the  Spirit  was  the  Presiding 
Presence  and  controlling  Personality  in  primitive 
church  assemblies.* 

Surely  no  one  can  fail  to  see  a  divine  design  and 
order  here.  Thus  in  these  first  five  books  of  the  New 
Testament  our  Lord  is  successively  presented  as 
the  Fulfilment  of  Prophecy,  the  Miracle  Worker,  the 
Perfect  Son  of  Man  and  the  Perfect  Son  of  God; 
miraculously  Born  of  a  Virgin,  miraculously  work¬ 
ing  among  men,  miraculously  exhibiting  the  Per¬ 
fection  of  Humanity  and  miraculously  manifesting 
the  Perfection  of  Deity;  then  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  as  revealing  Himself  in  his  last  and  in 
some  respects  most  important  manifestation,  as  still 
living  and  working,  “doing  and  teaching”  among 
men,  in  the  undying  life  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 

The  five  prominent  Epistle  writers  of  the  New 

*“Acts  of  the  Holy  Spirit.”  By  the  Author. 

45 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


Testament,  Paul,  Peter,  James,  John  and  Jude,  each 
stand  particularly  for  one  great  theme — Paul,  for 
Faith;  Peter,  Hope;  John,  Love;  James,  Good 
Works;  Jude  adds  a  solemn  warning  against 
apostasy  which  is  destructive  alike  to  faith,  hope, 
love  and  good  works. 

It  is  noticeable  that  there  are  Seven  church  let¬ 
ters — counting  two  as  one  when  addressed  to  the 
same  church — Romans  to  Thessalonians; 

Then  three  personal  epistles  follow,  to  Timothy, 
Titus,  Philemon; 

Then  three  Jewish  Epistles,  Hebrews,  James  and 
Peter ; 

Then  the  Epistles  of  John,  and  Jude,  having  a 
particular  value  and  purpose  as  written  after  the 
tide  of  Apostasy  set  in. 

If  these  groups  be  examined  the  most  remarkable 
completeness  and  order  is  noticeable. 

The  Seven  church  epistles  though  not  in  the  order 
of  production  are  in  the  order  of  instruction — an 
order,  not  historical  but  logical — showing  how  all  the 
great  experiences  of  their  Divine  Head  are  repre¬ 
sentative  experiences  of  all  the  members:  Death, 
Burial  and  Resurrection,  in  Romans;  the  Inbreath¬ 
ing  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  Spirit  of  Life,  Corinth¬ 
ians;  the  Holy  Forty  Days’  Walk,  Galatians;  the 
Ascension  to  the  Heavenlies,  Ephesians;  the  Com¬ 
pensating  Joy,  Philippians;  the  Session  at  God’s 
Right  Hand,  Colossians ;  the  Coming  in  Glory, 
Thessalonians. 


46 


The  Bible  as  Man’s  Book. 


As  to  the  Hebrew  Epistles,  three  things  were  es¬ 
pecially  precious  to  the  Hebrew  people : 

Their  History  as  a  Peculiar  Redeemed  people, 
under  Moses,  Aaron,  etc. 

Their  peculiar  privilege  as  Repositories  of  the 
Law  and  Oracles  of  God. 

Their  Entrance  into  and  Possession  of  the  Land, 
their  peculiar  Inheritance. 

In  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  we  have  the  typical 
fulfilment  of  the  first; 

In  the  Epistle  of  James  the  Revelation  of  a 
Higher  Heavenly  Law  and  Wisdom; 

In  the  Epistles  of  Peter,  the  Pilgrimage  to  another 
Heavenly  Inheritance. 

The  Epistles  of  John  and  Jude  complete  the  body 
of  ethical  and  practical  truth.  John  and  Jude  both 
wrote  after  the  apostasy  had  begun ;  and  hence  their 
writings  have  a  special  value  and  pertinency  for  the 
church  during  the  whole  dispensation.  Here  we 
find  the  emphatic  warning  against  errors  in  doctrine 
and  practice  which  had  then  appeared  and  have  ever 
since  been  more  or  less  prominent;  and  here  we 
shall  find  the  particular  teaching  meant  to  guide  the 
believer  as  to  meeting  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the 
Devil,  as  the  threefold  foes  of  his  spiritual  life. 

It  is  no  accident  that  these  Epistles  come  last  and 
complete  the  whole  body  of  this  ethical  and  prac¬ 
tical  teaching.  Any  where  else  they  would  be  out 
of  place. 

A  prominent  spiritual  teacher,  lately  departed, 

47 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


gave  as  almost  his  last  word  to  survivors, 
“Brethren,  do  not  neglect  the  ministry  of  John.” 
Why  this  emphasis  on  John’s  writings?  As  another 
has  said,  this  can  be  seen  only  by  the  careful  study 
of  the  order  in  which,  so  far  as  the  dates  can  be 
known,  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  were 
given.  “The  church  is  seen  in  order  up  to  about 
A.  D.  65.  This  is  marked  in  1  Timothy  and  Titus. 
Bishops  or  elders,  and  deacons,  are  officially  rec¬ 
ognized.  What  a  change  had  taken  place  in  about 
a  year,  may  be  seen  by  reading  2  Timothy,  2  Peter 
and  Jude.  The  church,  as  a  testimony  of  God  on 
earth,  had  already  failed.  Deceivers  and  corrupters 
had  crept  in  and  for  a  time  inspiration  had  ceased ; 
as  generally  supposed  for  about  twenty  years.  For 
all  those  years  declension  had  rolled  on.  Then  the 
Holy  Ghost  spake  by  John.  He  spake  of  the  church 
only  as  that  which  had  failed  on  earth,  and  to  be 
judged  (Rev.  ii,  iii).  One  assembly  is  selected  and 
described  in  the  epistles,  but  an  entirely  new  order 
had  been  established  there,  one  person  taking 
authority.  This  was  so  opposed  to  the  true  prin¬ 
ciples  of  the  Church  of  God,  that  this  man  refused 
even  the  Apostle  John.  We  are  left  in  no  uncer¬ 
tainty  whether  God,  by  His  aged  servant  John,  ap¬ 
proved  or  disapproved  of  this  new  order  which,  I 
doubt  not,  had  then  become  general.* 

The  complete  teaching  of  the  Epistles  may  be 


♦“Incidents  of  Gospel  Work.”  Charles  Stanley.  135-142. 

4* 


The  Bible  as  Man’s  Book. 


briefly  summarized,  thus :  The  Church  Epistles :  The 
Believer’s  union  with  Christ: 

My  Righteousness  by  faith  is  He.' — Romans. 

His  Holy  Spirit  dwells  in  me. — Corinthians. 

In  Him  my  daily  walk  on  Earth. — Galatians. 

In  Him  my  hidden  life  in  heaven. — Ephesians. 

In  Him,  for  every  present  loss, 

Eternal  future  gain  is  given. — Philippians. 

In  Him,  my  seat  is  on  the  Throne. — Colossians. 

And  He  will  come  to  claim  His  own. — Thessalo- 
nians. 

The  Hebrew  Epistles:  Christ,  foreshadowed  in 
the  Old  Testament: 

God’s  Pilgrims,  now  dispersed  abroad. 

Have  found,  in  Christ,  Messiah,  God.— Hebrews. 

New  Wisdom,  coming  from  above. — James. 

Their  true  Inheritance  of  love.' — Peter. 

The  General  Epistles :  The  warning  against  apos¬ 
tasy : 

Love  not  the  world,  its  charms  decay ; 

Yield  not  to  fleshly  lusts,  and  Satan’s  sway. — 
John. 

Keep  in  God’s  Love,  His  Word  obey, 

In  Hope,  look  forward  to  Christ’s  “Day.” — Jude. 

Twelve  conspicuous  symbols  are  chosen  in  the 
Word  of  God  to  represent  its  uses  and  the  range 
and  scope  of  its  application  to  all  human  need.  We 
may  class  them  under  seven  divisions. 

i.  The  Mirror ,  to  shew  us  ourselves  as  we  are 
and  may  be  (James  i  125 ) . 

49 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


2.  The  Laver ,  to  wash  away  our  sins  and  our 
defilement  (Eph.  v:26). 

3.  The  Lamp  and  Light,  to  guide  us  in  the  right 
way  (Ps.  cxix:io5). 

4.  The  Milk,  Bread,  Strong  Meat  and  Honey, 
affording  sustenance  and  satisfaction  to  the  be¬ 
liever  at  all  stages  of  spiritual  development  (Heb. 
v:i2-i4;  Ps.  xix:io,  etc.). 

5.  The  fine  Gold,  to  enrich  us  with  heavenly  trea¬ 
sure  (Ps.  xix:io). 

6.  The  Fire,  Hammer,  Sword ,  to  be  used  in  the 
warfare  of  life  (Jer.  xxiii:29;  Heb.  iv:i2;  Eph. 
vi:i7). 

7.  The  Seed,  to  beget  souls  in  God’s  image,  and 
to  plant  harvest  fields  for  God  (Jas.  i:i8;  1  Pet. 
i  123 ;  Matt.  xiii). 

Another  remarkable  proof  of  this  divine  and  per¬ 
fect  adaptation  of  the  Bible  to  man  is  that  it  is  self - 
unlocking.  In  reading  and  studying  other  great 
books  one  has  need  of  a  library  of  reference ;  other¬ 
wise  they  cannot  be  understood.  Lexicons,  scien¬ 
tific  treatises,  histories  and  biographies,  encyclo¬ 
pedias,  all  must  be  at  hand.  The  first  lines  of 
Paradise  Lost  reveal  a  wealth  of  learning  that  de¬ 
mands  hours  of  study  to  master.  But  the  simplest 
and  most  unlettered  man  by  searching  the  Word  it¬ 
self,  comparing  the  two  Testaments,  one  book  with 
another,  and  one  passage  with  another,  finds  all  that 
it  is  needful  to  understand,  made  plain ;  so  that  oft- 

30 


The  Bible  as  Man’s  Book. 

entimes  to  the  most  unlearned  in  man’s  eyes  this 
book  is  no  longer  a  sealed  book. 

What  would  be  the  results  on  individual  and  col¬ 
lective  life  if  the  Bible  was  our  law? 

John  Adams,  afterwards  President  of  the  United 
States,  wrote  thus  when  a  young  man: 

“Suppose  a  nation  in  some  distant  region  should 
take  the  Bible  for  their  only  law  book,  and  every 
member  should  regulate  his  conduct  by  the  precepts 
there  exhibited!  Every  member  would  be  obliged, 
in  conscience,  to  temperance  and  frugality  and  in¬ 
dustry;  to  justice  and  charity  towards  his  fellow- 
men,  and  to  piety,  love,  and  reverence  towards  Al¬ 
mighty  God.  In  this  Commonwealth  no  man  would 
impair  his  health  by  gluttony,  drunkenness,  or  lust; 
no  man  would  sacrifice  his  most  precious  time  to 
cards  or  any  other  trifling  and  mean  amusement ;  no 
man  would  steal,  or  lie,  or  in  any  way  defraud  his 
neighbor,  but  would  live  in  peace  and  good  will  with 
all  men;  no  man  would  blaspheme  his  Maker  or 
profane  His  worship ;  but  a  rational,  a  manly,  a  sin¬ 
cere  and  unaffected  piety  and  devotion  would  reign 
in  all  hearts.  What  a  Utopia,  what  a  paradise  would 
this  region  be  !”* 

*Works  of  John  Adams,  vol.  ii,  pp,  6  and  7* 


51 


CHAPTER  III 
The  Problem  of  the  Family 

On  this,  one  of  the  gravest  of  questions,  the. 
teaching  of  the  word  is  unusually  full  and  explicit, 
and  may  be  grouped  under  four  heads : 

1.  The  Divine  origin,  institution,  ideal  and  object 
of  marriage,  in  Eden ; 

2.  The  Scriptural  laws  and  limitations,  governing 
marital  selection; 

3.  The  Prenatal  influences  that  should  shape  the 
character  of  offspring; 

4.  The  proper  administration  of  Household  law, 
life,  and  habits. 

Under  each  of  these  groups,  a  few  representative 
passages  may  be  chosen. 

1. 

“The  Lord  God  caused  a  deep  sleep  to  fall  upon 
Adam  and  he  slept:  and  He  took  one  of  his  ribs, 
and  closed  up  the  flesh  instead  thereof :  and  the  rib 
which  the  Lord  God  had  taken  from  man,  made 
He  a  woman,  and  brought  her  unto  the  Man;  and 
Adam  said,  This  is  now  bone  of  my  bones,  and 
flesh  of  my  flesh:  she  shall  be  called  woman  be¬ 
cause  she  was  taken  out  of  man.  Therefore  shall 
a  man  leave  his  father  and  his  mother,  and  shall 

52 


The  Problem  of  the  Family. 

cleave  unto  his  wife:  and  they  shall  be  one  flesh/* 
(Genesis  ii:2i-24.) 

2. 

“Thou  shalt  not  take  a  wife  unto  my  son  of  the 
daughters  of  the  Canaanites  among  whom  I  dwell: 
but  thou  shalt  go  unto  my  country,  and  to  my  kin¬ 
dred,  and  take  a  wife  unto  my  son  Isaac.”  (Genesis 
xxiv.3,  4.) 

“She  is  at  liberty  to  be  married  to  whom  sh© 
will — only  in  the  Lord.”  (1  Corinth.  vii:39.) 

3- 

“Lo,  children  are  an  heritage  of  the  Lord ;  and  the 
fruit  of  the  womb  is  his  reward.”  (Psalm  cxxvii: 

3-) 

“For  this  child  I  prayed;  and  the  Lord  hath 
given  me  my  petition  which  I  asked  of  him,  there¬ 
fore  also  I  have  lent  him  to  the  Lord;  as  long  as 
he  liveth  he  shall  be  lent  to  the  Lord.  And  he 
worshipped  the  Lord  there.”  (1  Samuel  L27,  28.) 

“The  unfeigned  faith  that  is  in  thee,  which  dwelt 
first  in  thy  grandmother  Lois,  and  thy  mother  Eu¬ 
nice.”  (2  Timothy  1 15.) 

“In  those  days  also  saw  I  Jews  that  had  married 
wives  of  Ashdod,  of  Ammon,  and  of  Moab,  and 
their  children  spake  half  in  the  speech  of  Ashdod, 
and  could  not  speak  in  the  Jews’  language,  but  ac¬ 
cordingly  to  the  language  of  each  people,” 
(Nehemiah  xiii:23,  24.) 


53 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

4* 

“I  know  him,  that  he  will  command  his  children 
and  his  household  after  him,  and  they  shall  keep 
the  way  of  the  Lord,  to  do  justice  and  judgment; 
that  the  Lord  may  bring  upon  Abraham  that  which 
he  hath  spoken  of  him.”  (Genesis  xviii:i9.) 

“I  will  judge  his  house  for  ever  for  the  iniquity 
which  he  knoweth ;  because  his  sons  made  themselves 
vile,  and  he  restrained  them  not.”  (i  Samuel  iii  :i3* ) 

“Adonijah  the  son  of  Haggith  exalted  himself, 
saying,  I  will  be  king ;  and  he  prepared  him  chariots 
and  horsemen  and  fifty  men  to  run  before  him,  and 
his  father  had  not  displeased  him  at  any  time  in 
saying,  Why  hast  thou  done  so?”  (i  Kings  i:5,  6.) 

“Hear,  O  Israel :  The  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord. 
And  thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all 
thine  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy 
might.  And  these  words,  which  I  command  thee 
this  day,  shall  be  in  thine  heart.  And  thou  shalt 
teach  them  diligently  unto  thy  children,  and  shalt 
talk  of  them  when  thou  sittest  in  thine  house,  and 
when  thou  walkest  by  the  way,  and  when  thou  liest 
down,  and  when  thou  risest  up.  And  thou  shalt 
bind  them  for  a  sign  upon  thine  hand,  and  they  shall 
be  as  frontlets  between  thine  eyes.  And  thou 
shalt  write  them  upon  the  posts  of  thy  house,  and 
on  thy  gates.”  (Deut.  vi  14-9. ) 

“Continue  thou  in  the  things  which  thou  hast 
learned  and  hast  been  assured  of,  knowing  of  whom 
thou  has  learned  them.  And  that  from  a  child  thou 

54 


The  Problem  of  the  Family. 


hast  known  the  holy  scriptures,  which  are  able  to 
make  thee  wise  unto  salvation  through  faith  which 
is  in  Christ  Jesus.”  (2  Timothy  iii :  14,  15.) 

“Children,  obey  your  parents  in  the  Lord,  for  this 
is  right.  Honor  thy  father  and  mother  (which  is 
the  first  commandment  with  promise;)  That  it 
may  be  well  with  thee,  and  thou  mayest  live  long 
on  the  earth.  And,  ye  fathers,  provoke  not  your 
children  to  wrath,  but  bring  them  up  in  the  nature 
and  admonition  of  the  Lord.”  (Ephesians  vLi-4.) 

These  important  scripture  quotations  serve  to 
indicate  the  rich  veins  of  biblical  teaching  which 
reward  the  careful  student.  We  are  here  led  back 
to  the  Edenic  origin  of  marriage  and  the  family, 
and  confronted  with  the  divine  ideal.  Then  we 
are  reminded  of  the  fundamental  importance  of 
choosing  for  such  life  partnership  only  such  as  are 
fitted  to  enter  into  it  in  God’s  faith  and  fear.  Then 
the  question  of  offspring  is  put  before  us,  and  the 
fact  that  prenatal  influences  in  the  parental  character 
and  life  predispose  to  good  or  evil ;  and  finally 
that  children  are  to  be  carefully  and  prayerfully 
taught  and  trained  in  all  godly  habits. 

Here  the  cardinal  points  of  the  whole  subject  are 
definitely  fixed,  so  that  all  minor  details  which  fall 
within  the  whole  circle  of  the  horizon  of  the  theme 
may  from  them  be  readily  determined;  somewhat 
as  a  traveler  in  an  unknown  country,  when  once 
he  has  with  accuracy  settled  the  four  points  of  the 
compass,  may  with  but  little  difficulty  calculate  and 

55 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


measure  all  intermediate  angles  of  direction.  No 
candid  scripture  student  need,  with  such  clear  lead¬ 
ing  as  to  essentials,  long  hesitate  as  to  the  lesser 
problems  and  perplexities  arising  in  family  life. 
But  the  moment  that,  in  any  of  these  great  par¬ 
ticulars,  we  depart  from  or  disregard  the  divine 
pattern,  we  are  like  those  who  lose  their  way  and  at 
every  step  are  in  danger  of  plunging  into  deeper 
darkness  and  difficulty. 

To  begin  at  the  beginning  then,  marriage  is  a  di¬ 
vine  institution,  and  this  especially  stamps  it  with 
dignity  and  sanctity.  God’s  crowning  creative  act 
was  the  making  of  woman.  At  the  close  of  each 
creative  day,  it  is  formally  recorded  that  “God  saw 
what  He  had  made,  that  it  was  good.”  But,  when 
Adam  was  made,  it  is  explicitly  recorded  that  “God 
saw  that  it  was  not  good,  that  the  man  should  be 
alone.”  As  to  man  the  creative  work  lacked  com¬ 
pleteness,  until,  as  all  animals  and  even  plants  had 
their  mates,  there  should  be  found  for  Adam  also 
an  help,  meet  for  him — his  counterpart  and  com¬ 
panion.  Not  till  this  want  was  met  did  God  see  the 
work  of  the  last  creative  day  also  to  be  good. 

This  is  the  first  great  scripture  lesson  on  family 
life,  and  it  should  be  well  learned.  Two  relics  of 
Edenic  Life,  alone,  survive  the  Fall,  the  Sabbath  and 
marriage ,  and  they  must  be  somehow  fundament¬ 
al  to  Edenic  Ideals.  The  former  teaches  man  not 
only  to  hallow  one  seventh  of  time  as  sacred  to  God, 
but  to  consecrate  all  time.  The  weekly  recurrence  of 

56 


The  Problem  of  the  Family. 


the  day  of  Rest  is  a  frequent  reminder  of  God’s 
right  to  our  time  as  the  setting  apart  of  the  tithe 
reminded  of  His  proprietorship  in  all  things  and  of 
our  stewardship..  Before  one  Sabbath  had  ceased 
to  exercise  its  restraint  and  constraint,  the  ap¬ 
proach  of  another  renewed  the  hallowing  influence. 
The  latter,  the  Divine  Institution  of  Marriage, 
teaches  that  the  Ideal  state  of  both  man  and  woman 
is  not  in  separation  but  in  union,  that  each  is  meant 
and  fitted  for  the  other ;  and  that  God's  ideal  is  such 
union,  based  on  a  pure  and  holy  love,  enduring 
for  life,  exclusive  of  all  rivalry  or  other  partnership, 
and  incapable  of  alienation  or  unfaithfulness  because 
it  is  a  union  in  the  Lord — a  holy  wedlock  of  soul 
and  spirit  in  mutual  sympathy  and  affection. 

This  is  a  proper  place  to  correct  a  current  and 
erroneous  conception  of  the  narrative  in  Genesis. 

“And  the  Lord  God  said,  It  is  not  good  that  the 
man  should  be  alone ;  I  will  make  him  an  help,  meet 
for  him.”  God  saw  that  man  could  not  reach  an 
ideal  state  in  solitude.  Quite  apart  from  the  peopling 
of  the  earth,  there  was  the  question  of  man's  own 
need  and  welfare.  “And  God  said,  I  will  make  him' 
an  help,  meet  for  him.” 

Observe  this  is  not  a  compound  word — help-meet. 
This  may  seem  a  small  matter,  but  in  part,  upon  a 
mistaken  and  mischievous  conception  of  this  text, 
has  been  built  up  a  system  of  domestic  tryanny  and 
injustice  that  lasted  for  ages,  on  one  hand  develop¬ 
ing  in  the  man  marital  despotism,  and  on  the  other, 

57 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


wifely  subjection  and  servitude,  and  the  degradation 
of  woman. 

What  God  did  say  was,  literally,  “one,  over 
against  him  ”  that  is  his  counterpart,  correspond¬ 
ent,  his  other  half.  No  superiority  on  his  part,  nor 
inferiority  on  her  part,  is  necessarily  implied.  There 
is  indeed  a  marital  headship,  entrusted  to  the  hus¬ 
band  and  emphasized  in  the  New  Testament  as 
well  as  the  Old ;  but  it  is  a  headship  not  to  be  held 
in  wilfulness  or  selfishness,  nor  exercised  in  arbi¬ 
trary  authority  but  in  unselfish  devotion,  provision 
and  protection,  leadership  and  love.  “The  hus¬ 
band  is  head  of  the  wife  even  as  Christ  is  the 
Head  of  the  church.” 

The  practical  inference,  too  often  gathered 
from  the  record  in  Genesis,  is  that  man  was  cre¬ 
ated  as  woman’s  lord  and  master — his  imperial 
majesty,  the  man,  to  be  Lord  of  Creation;  and 
woman — God’s  last  and  best  creative  product,  to 
be,  if  not  his  lackey,  at  best  his  servant,  to  bow  at 
his  feet,  wait  on  him,  do  his  bidding,  without  any 
way  or  will  of  her  own,  to  sink  alike  her  individ¬ 
uality  and  independence  in  his  pleasure  and  ca¬ 
price.  And,  under  the  sanction  of  this  perverted 
notion,  woman  has  been  degraded  for  centuries 
and  milleniums  into  a  slave  of  man’s  despotism, 
a  victim  of  his  tyranny,  and  even  a  tool  of  his 
passions,  when  God  meant  her  to  be  his  compan¬ 
ion  and  equal,  his  helper  and  counsellor.  The 
historic  outcome  of  such  perversion  has  been  a 

5S 


The  Problem  of  the  Family. 


long  history  of  social  wrong — polygamy  with  its 
harem  and  seraglio;  domestic  and  social  seclusion 
and  exclusion,  with  its  zenana ;  capricious  divorce 
with  its  companion  and  consequence — adulterous 
unions,  and  a  whole  brood  of  kindred  curses  and 
crimes. 

Man  is  no  doubt  in  some  respects  superior  to 
woman,  in  capacity  for  leadership,  active  and  ag¬ 
gressive  enterprise;  and  he  has  proved  historical¬ 
ly  to  surpass  her  in  inventive  genius  and  public 
achievement.  But  he  is  also  inferior  in  heart 
qualities,  in  moral  intuition,  in  affectional  depth, 
in  emotional  sensibility,  in  capacity  for  suffering 
and  sacrifice.  Each  has  proficiencies  and  defic¬ 
iencies.  What  one  has,  the  other  lacks,  and  con¬ 
versely.  Comparisons  are  often  invidious  because 
unfair.  When  things  are  not  alike  each  must  be 
looked  at  apart  from  the  other;  and  so  man  and 
woman  must  be  studied,  in  order  to  understand 
how  each  is,  in  a  higher  sense  a  part  of  the  other, 
or  rather  a  part  of  the  perfect  whole. 

We  all  know  what  a  triumph  of  invention  is 
the  achromatic  lens.  The  varying  degrees  of  re¬ 
fraction,  producing  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow 
on  the  double  convex  lens,  interfered  fatally  with 
astronomic  and  microscopic  observation.  Hall 
and  Dolland  discovered  the  mode  of  constructing 
lenses,  free  from  chromatic  dispersion,  by  using 
two  lenses  of  two  different  kinds  of  glass,  crown 
and  flint  glass,  closely  joined  together.  God,  in 

59 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


infinite  wisdom,  saw  that  by  intimately  uniting 
the  man  and  the  woman,  in  a  partnership  of  love 
so  closely  that  they  ceased  to  be  longer  twain  and 
became  one  flesh,  the  deficiencies  of  each  could 
so  be  met  by  the  proficiencies  of  the  other  that 
the  unit  would  be  as  near  as  possible  a  perfect  hu¬ 
manity  and  it  is  this  which  is  so  finely  expressed 
in  the  original  story  of  creation 

There  is  no  doubt  that  in  a  true  marriage  each 
party  helps  the  other  equally.  The  Earl  of 
Shaftesbury  quaintly  said,  that  if  the  pope  had 
been  married  he  would  have  soon  discovered  that  he 
was  not  infallible ! 

Inasmuch  as  God  saw  that  for  the  man  to  be 
alone  was  not  good,  those  who  venture  to  hold 
and  teach  any  other  doctrine  or  philosophy  join 
issue  with  God. 

This  does  not  imply  a  universal  rule  that  every 
man  and  woman  is  obligated  to  enter  matrimoni¬ 
al  ranks ;  for  there  may  be  the  highest  motives, 
both  prudential  and  pious,  for  abiding  alone — suf¬ 
ficient  reasons  for  celibacy,  physical  and  moral, 
domestic  and  social.  But  a  single  life  should  be 
regarded  and  treated  as  abnormal  and  exceptional, 
rather  than  ideal.  Any  teaching  that  leads  men 
and  women  to  think  of  the  marriage  bond  as  the 
sign  of  bondage,  and  the  sacrifice  of  all  independ¬ 
ence  ;  to  construe  wifehood  and  motherhood  as 
drudgery,  and  interference  with  woman's  higher 
destiny;  any  tendency  of  society  to  cultivate  celi- 

60 


The  Problem  of  the  Family. 


bacy  as  more  desirable,  preferable  and  honorable, 
or  to  substitute  anything  else  for  marriage  and 
home,  not  only  invades  God’s  order,  but  opens 
the  door  to  nameless  crimes  and  threatens  the 
very  foundations  of  society. 

Those  who  watch  the  signs  of  the  times  must 
see  certain  alarming  signals  at  different  points 
of  the  horizon  like  the  lightning  flashes  that  hint 
the  coming  storm. 

Among  these  threatening  forecasts  of  disaster, 
none  is  more  perilous  than  the  doctrine  of  Marital 
Affinity.  It  teaches  that  every  man  and  woman 
has  some  special  inborn  or  inbred  fitness  for 
some  other,  and  the  great  secret  of  happiness  is  to 
find  one’s  counterpart ;  and  that  this  is  so  import¬ 
ant  that,  if  unsuccessful  at  first,  another  experi¬ 
ment  is  the  only  resort  with  hope  of  a  better  re¬ 
sult.  This  is  the  theory  put  into  as  delicate  lan¬ 
guage  as  its  viciousness  permits;  and  of  all  the 
perils  that  menace  domestic  and  social  life,  none 
is  more  serious.  Even  if  for  the  moment  consid¬ 
ered  as  a  possible  remedy  for  some  existing  evils, 
it  introduces  more  than  it  relieves.  It  encour¬ 
ages  hasty  and  ill-assorted  marriages  in  suggest¬ 
ing  a  ready  cure  for  marital  blunders  and  mis¬ 
takes.  It  justifies  capricious  divorce,  separating 
husband  and  wife  for  causes  absolutely  disal¬ 
lowed  by  Scripture,  and  so  fosters  nuptial  discord 
and  unrest,  by  justifying  the  sundering  of  sacred 
ties  on  the  ground  of  supposed  incompatibility  of 

61 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


mind  and  temper,  or  some  caprice  of  fancy  that 
some  new  connection  would  be  more  acceptable 
and  agreeable. 

God  who  instituted  marriage  made  it  a  life 
bond,  a  partnership  between  one  man  and  one 
woman,  the  most  intimate  known  to  humanity — 
the  twain  becoming  one  flesh — a  partnership 
whose  only  sanction  is  love,  and  whose  only  disso¬ 
lution  is  by  death,  or  by  that  other  death  of  love 
through  the  allowance  of  a  rival  love  that  by  its 
very  existence  destroys  the  previous  and  purer 
bond. 

In  making  the  tie  thus  permanent,  He  evinced 
His  perfect  wisdom.  He  foresaw  that  the  easier 
the  dissolution  of  the  bond,  the  less  motive  for 
forbearance  and  mutual  and  resolute  effort  to  pro¬ 
mote  agreement  and  harmony.  He  would  have 
all  who  take  such  a  step,  count  the  cost  and  un¬ 
derstand  that  it  is  irrevocable,  so  that  they  may 
enter  into  wedlock  “soberly,  advisedly  and  in  the 
fear  of  God.” 

Notwithstanding  these  plain  Scriptural  teach¬ 
ings,  and  their  abundant  vindication  in  human  ex¬ 
perience,  before  the  legislature  of  the  State  of 
Colorado,  a  bill  was  presented,  intended  to  pro¬ 
vide  for  and  legalize  trial  marriages,  and  author¬ 
izing  a  marriage  contract  “for  a  limited  term,  not 
less  than  three,  nor  more  than  ten  years,  and  for 
any  term  of  years  between  these  terms  of  three 
and  ten. 


62 


The  Problem  of  the  Family. 


“If,  after  six  months  of  any  limited  marriage 
contract  have  expired,  should  said  parties  desire, 
they  may  appear  before  the  said  officer,  if  alive 
and  in  office,  and  if  not,  before  any  other  proper 
officer,  and,  delivering  up  the  limited  contract 
aforesaid,  may  make  another  and  new  contract, 
which  shall  in  all  cases  be  a  contract  for  life,  and 
not  for  another  term  of  years.” 

Not  only  so,  but  a  woman  of  prominence  has 
lately  published  a  book  in  which  are  suggested, 
if  not  advocated,  such  experimental  marriages,  as 
a  possible  solution  to  existing  estrangements  in 
married  life.  Meanwhile,  in  one  of  the  worst 
criminal  trials  on  record,  the  disgusting  details  of 
fashionable  debauchery  and  adultery  have  been 
unblushingly  paraded  in  print,  and  respectable 
women  clamored  for  entrance  into  the  courtroom, 
showing  how  public  sentiment  finds  in  marital 
infidelities  a  carcass  upon  which  to  feed  as  with 
the  voracity  of  a  vulture; 

Another  sign  of  the  low  level  of  ideas  of  mar¬ 
riage  is  seen  in  the  matches  of  convenience  that 
so  largely  displace  the  wedlock  of  love,  turning 
into  sacrilege  what  ought  to  be  a  sacrament. 
How  shocking  is  it  that  human  beings  should 
barter  virtue  for  a  price,  paid  in  money,  title,  or 
social  rank,  dignifying  by  the  name  of  marriage, 
what  in  God’s  vocabulary  bears  quite  a  different 
designation,  and  allowing  mercantile  motives  to 
crowd  aside  moral  considerations! 

63 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


All  this  reminds  us  that  the  best  is  always  ca¬ 
pable  of  being  perverted  to  the  worst;  and,  as  the 
inverted  images  in  water  project  as  deep  down¬ 
ward  as  the  objects  reflected  rise  upward,  so  what 
Gocf  designs  as  the  highest  blessing  may  become 
by  human  perversity  the  greatest  curse. 

Moreover,  all  marital  crimes  are  mutual.  Some 
sins  are  individual ;  they  involve  others  as  suffer¬ 
ing  victims,  but  not  participators.  Not  so  here. 
Whatever  involves  the  family  in  ruin  by  such  un¬ 
lawful  relations,  implies  participation  in  crime 
and  guilt.  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  what  fearful 
harvests  of  sin  and  crime  come  by  geometrical 
progression  from  such  sowing  to  the  flesh.  What 
ultimate  possibilities  of  good  or  evil  lie  germinal- 
ly  in  every  family!  Jacob  entered  Egypt  with 
seventy  souls ;  at  the  Exodus  they  had  multiplied 
over  eight  thousand  five  hundred  times.  In  the 
light  of  such  considerations  as  these  must  our  stud¬ 
ies  be  conducted  into  the  Problem  of  the  Family., 
We  cannot  lay  too  heavy  stress  on  the  Scrip¬ 
ture  idea  and  ideal  of  the  family,  because  nothing 
is  just  now  in  greater  peril.  The  same  tidal  wave 
of  practical  infidelity  that  is  beating  wildly  against 
the  Gibraltar  of  Holy  Scripture  is  actually  sweep¬ 
ing  away  the  whole  fabric  of  marriage  with  all 
that  it  involves  in  the  family  and  home. 

Rev.  Dr.  Charles  H.  Parkhurst,  of  New  York, 
a  mighty  agitator  for  both  political  and  moral  or 
ethical  reform,  has  recently  thundered  out  a  noble 

64 


The  Problem  of  the  Family. 


remonstrance  against  modern  laxity  in  the  whole 
notion  and  practice  as  to  the  family  life.*  He 
is  not  opposed  to  progress,  but  believes  some 
progress  is  backward.  He  accepts  the  ramifica¬ 
tion  of  fresh  branches  and  the  unfolding  of  new 
blossoms,  but  he  stands  by  the  truth  and  swears 
by  the  root,  and  believes  that  there  are  some 
things  “so  inherently  true  that  they  will  continue 
to  be  true  till  eternity  ends  and  God  dies.” 

The  family  is  one  of  the  few  institutions  that 
has  an  unchanging  ideal  in  the  mind  of  God  and 
Word  of  God,  and  no  hand  of  man  can  improve 
it,  and  God  never  will  alter  it.  It  belongs  to  a 
sinless  Eden  and  partakes  of  the  perfect  moral 
order  that  antedates  sin  and  the  fall.  It  partakes 
of  God’s  immutability  and  the  solidity  and  stabil¬ 
ity  of  His  eternity.  Man  is  not  to  attempt  with 
his  crowbar  to  loosen  and  lift  the  everlasting 
mountains  or  even  question  what  God  has  settled. 
God’s  ideal  of  family  life  is  something  stable  that 
does  not  crawl  about  on  legs  or  wander  about  on 
wheels.  Any  club  life  or  hotel  life  that  displaces 
home  life  is  a  curse  to  the  community.  What 
upsets  home  is  sacrilegious ;  it  profanes  a  sanctu¬ 
ary.  What  breaks  up  the  unity  of  home  life  is 
ruinous  to  church  and  state — “for  the  unit  of  soci¬ 
ety  it  substitutes  a  lot  of  vulgar  fractions.” 

What  wonder  if,  about  marriage  with  such  is¬ 
sues  hanging  upon  it,  restrictions  are  placed.  Be- 

*“The  Sanctity  of  the  Marriage  Tie.” 

65 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


lievers  are  left  at  liberty  to  marry  whom  they  will, 
“only  in  the  Lord”  That  sacred  phrase,  one  of 
the  mystic  symbols  of  the  New  Testament,  must 
not  be  construed  to  mean,  “only  with  a  fellow  be¬ 
liever  or  a  church  member/’  Throughout  the 
Epistles,  it  means  a  sphere  of  life ,  an  element  in 
which  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being.  Be¬ 
lieving  on  Christ  we  so  enter  into  His  life  as  to 
be  identified  with  Him;  and  henceforth  what 
cannot  be  done  in  Him  is  not  to  be  done  at  alt 
A  union  in  the  Lord  is  not  only  one  approved  and 
appointed  of  Him,  but  constituted  in  Him ,  as  the 
sphere  of  its  sanctity,  authority,  activity,  fertility. 
Each  party,  by  faith  one  with  the  Lord,  in  Him 
by  love  becomes  one  with  the  other.  Such  a 
union  not  only  bars  out  an  ungodly,  unbelieving 
partner,  but  makes  impossible  wedlock  between 
a  spiritual,  and  a  nominal,  carnal  disciple,  leading 
those  who  truly  live  in  Christ  to  demand  in  a 
companion  similar  devotion  to  Him. 

The  writer  recalls  an  instance  of  a  young 
woman,  brought  to  Christ  under  his  ministry, 
who,  while  herself  alien  from  God,  had  pledged 
herself  to  an  infidel,  but  who  came  for  counsel, 
declaring  that  she  could  not  marry  such  a  man, 
because  she  was  “already  the  bride  of  Christ”  and 
it  would  be  infidelity  to  Him;  and  she  pleaded 
with  God  to  show  her  the  way  to  an  honorable 
release  from  a  pledge  that  had  become  abhorrent 
to  her. 


66 


The  Problem  of  the  Family. 


Issues  so  vast,  not  only  for  the  parties  them¬ 
selves,  but  for  generations  to  come,  hang  on  godly 
marriages,  that  it  seems  strange  that  any  true  dis¬ 
ciple  can  even  entertain  the  thought  of  such 
union  with  another  who  is  not  in  hearty  spiritual 
accord,  however  in  sympathy  in  lesser  things. 

The  precepts  of  the  Levitical  code  typically  hint 
the  principles  explicitly  laid  down  in  the  New 
Testament. 

“Be  not  unequally  yoked  together  with  unbe¬ 
lievers”  (2  Corinth.  vi:i4)  unmistakably  points 
back  to  the  precept,  “Thou  shalt  not  plow  with  an 
ox  and  an  ass  together”  (Deut.  xxiirio).  One 
was  an  unclean  beast,  never  laid  on  God’s  altar; 
the  other,  clean,  and  a  sacrificial  victim.  God 
would  not  have  under  one  yoke,  harnessed  to  one 
plow,  two  animals  of  such  different  class,  thereby 
hinting  that  a  believer  and  servant  of  God  He 
would  not  have  closely  yoked  up  with  an  unbe¬ 
liever  and  servant  of  Satan. 

When  we  read,  “Thou  shalt  not  let  thy  cattle 
gender  with  a  diverse  kind”  (Levit.  xix:i9)  and 
find  the  Hebrews  forbidden  even  to  mix  woolen 
and  linen  in  a  garment,  or  sow  a  field  with  mixed 
seed,  we  cannot  but  see  another  hint  as  to  the  im¬ 
propriety  of  mixed  marriages. 

God’s  original  ideal  then  must  be  kept  before 
us:  One  man  and  one  woman,  mutually  in  sym¬ 
pathy,  intellectually,  morally  and  religiously, 
united  in  a  partnership  whose  association  is  more 

67 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


intimate  and  tender,  perfect  and  permanent  than 
any  other,  displacing  even  filial  and  fraternal  ties, 
so  that  a  man  shall  leave  father  and  mother  and 
cleave  unto  his  wife,  they  being  no  more  twain, 
but  one  flesh,  losing  almost  individuality  and  du¬ 
ality  in  a  higher  and  sacred  mutuality  and  unity. 

It  must  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  God’s  ulti¬ 
mate  object  in  marriage  is  offspring .  To  our  first 
parents,  while  yet  in  a  sinless  Eden,  He  said,  “Be 
fruitful  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth  and 
subdue  it” — multiplication  of  the  higher  forms  of 
intelligence  and  life  in  order  to  subjugation  of 
the  lower,  that  the  material  and  animal  creation 
should  be  ruled  by  man,  by  brain  rather  than 
brawn,  by  intelligence  and  integrity  rather  than 
brute  force. 

Here  is  a  goal  indeed — increase  and  multiplica¬ 
tion,  not  in  money  or  material  possessions,  but  in 
humanity  itself,  an  investment  of  the  capital  of 
character  for  the  sake  of  a  like  interest,  character — 
profit  and  property  realized  in  offspring  bearing 
the  parental  likeness.  Man  being  made  in  God’s 
image,  multiplying  reflections  and  reproductions 
of  that  image.  Here  is  a  business  that  trades  in 
being ,  subduing  lower  forms  of  life  by  propagat¬ 
ing  the  higher! 

The  natural  increase  of  the  family  is  itself  a 
problem  of  grand  importance. 

Few  appreciate  the  immense  opportunity  and 
responsibility  involved  in  such  natural  and  nor- 

68 


The  Problem  of  the  Family. 

mat  growth.  Nature  hints  that  wedlock  shall  not 
take  place  before  physical  maturity,  or  what  is 
known  as  majority — say  about  twenty-one  years 
of  age.  Curiously,  in  the  healthy  body,  the  years 
of  fruitfulness  average  another  equal  period,  and 
if  children  are  given  only  once  in  three  years  it 
allows  an  average  of  seven  to  a  normal  family 
life.  Allowing  for  average  mortality  this  would 
make  possible  a  rate  of  increase  that  seems  in¬ 
credible.  It  has  been  estimated  that,  were  there 
now  no  more  families  on  earth  than  emerged 
from  the  ark,  and  each  family  multiplying  its 
numbers  but  fourfold  every  forty  years,  in  less 
than  six  hundred  years,  at  this  rate  of  geometrical 
progression,  the  earth  might  have  as  large  a  pop¬ 
ulation  as  now.  It  was  similar  numerical  calcu¬ 
lations  to  these  that  led  Malthus  to  fear  that  in 
time,  the  earth  could  not  sustain  its  own  inhabi¬ 
tants.  He  observed  that,  while  the  race  increased 
by  geometrical  progression,  the  increase  of  agri¬ 
cultural  products,  taking  into  account  waste,  etc., 
was  only  in  arithmetical  ratio,  and  hence  popula¬ 
tion  would  soon  surpass  the  means  of  subsistence. 
So  it  would  be,  but  for  the  ravages  of  pestilence, 
famine,  disease  and  war.  But  Malthus  thought  fur¬ 
ther  checks  should  be  put  upon  the  increase  of  the 
race,  by  preventive  measures,  such  as  forbidding 
marriage  until  a  proper  age,  with  physical  fitness 
and  capacity  to  support  a  family.  The  poor  law 
reform  of  1834  was  one  fruit  of  his  researches, 

69 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

and  many  economists  who  did  not  accept  his  esti¬ 
mates,  were  influenced  by  his  ideaa 

All  other  problems  concerning  marriage  there¬ 
fore  are  outranked  in  importance  by  the  question. 
How  may  we  secure  generations  of  upright  and 
godly  offspring? 

Three  facts  face  us:  First,  in  thousands  of 
Christian  families  there  are  unconverted  children, 
some  of  whom  are  profligate;  again,  unless  there 
is  a  reasonable  ground  of  confidence  that  children 
will  be  godly,  it  is  presumption,  if  not  crime,  to 
dare  parenthood ;  and,  yet  again,  God’s  command 
that  parents  shall  “bring  up  children  in  the  nur¬ 
ture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord”  implies  the  pos¬ 
sibility  and  ability,  for  every  commandment  is  an 
enablement.  If  God  says  I  ought ,  He  implies  I 
can. 

Remarkable  contrasts  exist  in  family  history 
extending  through  generations,  which  cannot  be 
wholly  accounted  for  by  natural  causes,  and  seem 
to  confirm  and  illustrate  God’s  own  words: 

“I  the  Lord  thy  God  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting 
the  iniquity  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  unto 
the  third  and  fourth  generation  of  them  that  hate 
me;  and  showing  mercy  unto  thousands  of  them 
that  love  me,  and  keep  my  commandments.” 

Jonathan  Edwards  was  the  son  of  a  most  godly 
sire.  His  father  was  a  preacher  and  before  him 
his  mother’s  father.  Some  pains  have  been  taken 
to  trace  the  history  of  the  descendants  of  this 

70 


The  Problem  of  the  Family. 


singularly  separated  man.  More  than  four  hun¬ 
dred  of  them  have  been  thus  traced,  and  they 
include  fourteen  college  presidents,  and  one  hun¬ 
dred  professors ;  one  hundred  of  them  have  been 
ministers  of  the  gospel,  missionaries  and  theo¬ 
logical  teachers.  More  than  a  hundred  of  them 
lawyers  and  judges.  Out  of  the  whole  number 
sixty  have  adorned  the  medical  calling  and  as 
many  more  known  as  authors  of  high  rank,  or  ed¬ 
itors  of  journals.  In  fact  almost  every  conspicu¬ 
ous  American  industry  has  had  as  its  promoters 
one  or  more  of  the  offspring  of  the  Edward’s  stock 
since  the  remote  ancestor  was  married  in  the  clos¬ 
ing  half  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

On  the  contrary,  there  has  been  careful  search 
into  the  history  of  one  criminal  family  known  as 
the  Jukes,  and  it  is  equally  conspicuous  as  a  long 
record  of  pauperism  and  profligacy,  imbecility 
and  insanity.  Twelve  hundred  descendants  have 
been  traced  of  this  prolific  family  tree.  Four  hun¬ 
dred  of  these  were  physical  self-wrecked ;  three 
hundred  and  ten  professional  paupers,  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  thirty  convicted  criminals,  sixty  habitu¬ 
al  thieves  and  pickpockets,  and  seven  murderers; 
while  out  of  the  whole  twelve  hundred  only  twen¬ 
ty  ever  learned  a  trade,  and  of  these  half  of  them 
owed  it  to  prison  discipline. 

The  author  has  been  greatly  interested  in  a  let¬ 
ter  from  a  remote  relative  who  has  taken  pains  to 
trace  to  some  extent  the  children  of  our  common 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


ancestry.  He  writes:  “The  Pooles  and  Piersons 
are  the  descendants  of  Hannah  Stand  wick,  born 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  about  the  middle,  at 
Broadway  County,  Somerset,  who  married 
George  Poole,  of  the  same  place.  The  second  son 
of  Mr.  Poole’s  nephew,  Joel  Standwick,  was  a 
pre-eminently  holy  man;  and  one  characteristic 
of  his  family  prayers,  and  I  believe  of  such  as 
were  offered  in  public  (although  prayer  meetings 
were  a  comparative  rarity  in  those  days),  was  his 
never  failing  to  intercede  for  unborn  generations, 
especially  among  his  own  kin.  Now  I  may  add 
that  the  result  is  very  significant.  I  know  hardly 
one  in  all  the  families  which  have  the  Standwick 
blood,  and  I  knew  them  extensively,  who  is  or 
was  an  irreligious  person;  nearly  all  were  profes¬ 
sors  of  religion,  while  many,  if  not  the  bulk  of 
them,  have  adorned  the  gospel  they  were  not 
ashamed  to  confess,  and  many  have  served  as 
ministers  and  office  bearers  both  in  Britain  and  in 
the  States.” 

All  these  principles  which  demand  a  godly  union 
in  wedlock  have  tenfold  force  when  it  is  remem¬ 
bered  that  the  marital  relation  is  bound  up  with 
the  parental.  Either  party  may  be  left  by  the  death 
of  the  other  to  the  sole  charge  of  a  family  of  chil¬ 
dren,  and  what  if  in  the  surviving  parent  there  be  no 
root  principles  of  piety  to  germinate  in  godly  nur¬ 
ture  and  admonition,  Scripture  teaching  and  prayer 
habits ! 


72 


The  Problem  of  the  Family. 


The  Word  of  God  counsels  that  where  such  al¬ 
liance  has  been  formed  before  conversion,  the  be¬ 
liever  shall  seek  with  intense  earnestness  to  save 
the  other.  But  to  those,  as  yet  only  contemplat¬ 
ing  wedlock,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  Spirit’s 
counsel  and  command  are  rather  to  abide  alone 
than  enter  into  such  a  union  without  the  basis  of 
a  godly  fellowship.* 

Only  those  whose  long  experience  gives  them  a 
lofty  point  of  view  can  appreciate  the  reasons  for 
such  emphatic  Scripture  teachings.  When  all  out¬ 
ward  charms  fade  and  worldly  advantages  fail; 
when  age  comes  on  and  youth  and  beauty  flee ; 
when  health  and  wealth  are  gone ;  when  a  family 
has  been  reared  and  character  is  beyond  parental 
shaping;  when  crises  throng  where  nothing  can 
avail  but  a  love  whose  corner  stone  is  piety;  then 
in  the  review,  is  seen  the  immense  importance  of 
having  made  a  right  choice,  and  that,  next  to  the 
espousal  of  Christ  as  Saviour,  stands  a  godly  mar¬ 
ital  union.  How  many,  at  a  dying  bed  or  open 
grave,  with  a  broken  heart,  bewail  the  mistakes 
that  can  never  be  undone.  There  comes  an  hour 
when  riches,  rank,  personal  attractions  and  even 
intellectual  culture  become  apples  of  Sodom, 
turning  to  ashes  when  there  is  need  of  a  comfort 
and  consolation  that  only  such  love  can  supply 
as  has  grown  ripe  on  the  Tree  of  Life ! 


*i  Cor.  vii:  12-16,  39. 


73 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


If  godliness  in  offspring  can  be  assured  at  all, 
the  most  vital  condition  is  a  holy  Parental  character . 

The  whole  teaching  of  the  Bible  implies  a  defi¬ 
nite  aim  and  purpose  in  the  Christian  parent  to 
bear  and  rear  offspring  for  God.  Hence  that  re¬ 
markable  language,  “Children  are  an  heritage  of 
the  Lord;  “And  the  fruit  of  the  womb  is  His  re¬ 
ward”  (Psa.  cxxxii:3). 

God  counts  them  as  His  inheritance  and  as  the 
reward  of  His  toil  as  though  in  procreation  when 
it  is  what  it  ought  to  be  the  Creator  is  claiming 
His  own,  both  by  right  of  creative  power  and  gra¬ 
cious  covenant. 

This  suggests  that  even  the  right  to  assume 
parenthood  may  rest  on  Covenant  relations  with 
God.  For  how  can  any  one  not  in  covenant  with 
Him  form  the  holy  partnership  wherein  a  disciple 
undertakes  to  bear  and  rear,  nurse  and  nurture, 
train  and  develop  children  for  God!  How 
would  such  a  sacred  conception  of  wedlock  and 
such  a  holy  purpose  in  wedlock  lift  all  marital  and 
parental  relations  to  a  wholly  new  plane!  And 
how  could  it  fail  to  ennoble  the  whole  character 
of  offspring! 

Nothing  is  more  indisputable  than  the  prenatal 
influences  that  mould  offspring,  reaching  back 
especially  to  the  mother's  whole  attitude  of  mind  and 
heart,  as  well  as  body,  her  attitude  becoming  in 
her  unborn  child  an  aptitude.  Hannah  prayed  for 
Samuel  and  from  the  time  of  that  prayer,  he  was 

74 


The  Problem  of  the  Family. 


lent  to  the  Lord  in  advance.  Had  that  nothing  to 
do  with  the  character  and  career  of  that  child  in 
whom  the  open  prophetic  vision  was  restored  after  a 
long  silence?  In  Timothy,  Paul  traced  a  faith  that 
dwelt  first  in  the  mother  Eunice  and  back  of  her 
in  the  grandmother  Lois^  Here  is  something 
which  comes  near  to  being  a  hereditary  faith ! 

The  character  of  the  parents  must,  in  some  de¬ 
gree,  and  may  in  a  very  large  degree,  be  reproduced 
in  offspring.  “Adam  begat  a  son  after  his  own 
likeness  (Gen.  v:3),  after  his  image”  (comp.  L26). 
If  attributes  are  not  inherited,  aptitudes  are — dispo¬ 
sitions,  tastes  and  tendencies  toward  good  or  evil. 
And  it  is  impossible  to  say  either  how  much  evil 
may  be  the  legacy  of  parent  to  child  or  how  much 
good.  If  some  children  go  astray,  as  soon  as  they 
be  born  speaking  lies,  there  was  on  the  contrary  a 
Samuel  that  from  his  birth  was  given  to  the  Lord, 
and  a  John  that  from  his  mother’s  womb  was  filled 
with  the  Holy  Ghost-— instances  left  on  record  to 
remind  us  of  parental  possibilities. 

Hence  the  Family  is  the  supreme  problem :  it  is 
the  mould  of  the  individual,  the  norm  of  society, 
alike  of  church  and  state,  and  the  factor  of  the 
future.  Catharine  Booth  felt  so  intensely  the  re¬ 
sponsibility  of  motherhood  that  she  boldly  said  to 
God,  “I  will  not  have  a  godless  child!”  Can  we 
imagine  God  as  indifferent  to  a  vow,  which  showed 
at  once  such  godly  determination  and  such  trust  in 
Him  as  One  who  had  called  her  to  the  sacred  office 

75 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


and  function  of  maternity !  Not  much  risk  of  such 
a  household  falling  into  the  category  of  the  families 
that  call  not  on  Thy  name  (Jer.  x:25).  It  was  this 
modified  heredity  of  character  that  led  Dr.  Bushnell 
to  the  bold  position*  that  every  child  should  be 
trained  as  presumptively  a  child  of  God  and  an  heir 
of  heaven.  Certainly  thousands  of  children  of  be¬ 
lievers  have  been  born  with  aptitudes  so  markedly 
religious  that  they  have  grown  up  Christians,  with¬ 
out  any  conscious  and  definite  change  such  as  is 
called  conversion. 

There  is  also  great  need  of  authority  in  the  fam- 
ily. 

Godly  restraint  is  a  necessary  factor  in  every 
well-regulated  home.  Gladstone  has  connected  with 
all  the  weak  concessions  to  a  child’s  caprices,  where¬ 
by  wilfulness  and  selfishness  are  so  often  encour¬ 
aged,  the  telling  phrase — “depraved  accommoda¬ 
tions.” 

CHILDREN  ARE  THE  HERITAGE  OF  THE  LORD. 

By  an  exhaustive  study  of  the  parentage  of  every 
person  born  since  the  Reformation  whose  name 
appears  in  the  British  Dictionary  of  National  Bi¬ 
ography,  Bishop  Weldon  has  compiled  some  inter¬ 
esting  facts  and  figures  as  to  the  sons  of  ministers 
of  the  gospel.  In  The  Nineteenth  Century  he  points 
out  that  among  those  who  had  attained  distinction 
in  various  departments  of  the  national  life,  1,270 


♦“Christian  Nurture.” 


76 


The  Problem  of  the  Family. 


were  the  sons  of  ministers,  510  the  sons  of  lawyers, 
and  350,  of  doctors.  “It  is  to  be  set  down  to  the 
honor  of  ministerial  homes,”  says  The  Presbyterian 
(Toronto),  “that  no  other  source  has  made  so  large 
a  contribution  to  the  learning,  energy  and  honor  of 
Great  Britain.,, 

Similar  facts  were  long  ago  ascertained  by  the 
careful  investigations  of  Dr.  Wm.  B.  Sprague,  who 
wrote  his  voluminous  “Annals  of  the  American 
Pulpit.”  But  such  encouraging  family  records  are 
even  more  abundant  in  the  history  of  missionaries . 
Witness  the  remarkable  family  of  John  Scudder, 
the  missionary  physician  of  Ceylon,  whose  nine 
children  were  all  missionaries  in  Southern  India, 
and  the  missionary  blood  did  not  run  out  in  the 
second  generation.  We  know  no  better  examples  of 
the  heredity  of  aptitudes  for  duty  and  service  than 
in  missionary  families,  another  illustration  of  which 
is  now  before  us  in  the  Labaree  family  and  many 
more  like  them  of  our  own  day — such  as  Hudson 
Taylor’s,  Dr.  Grattan  Guinness’s,  whose  names  are 
synonyms  of  missionary  heroism.  May  this  not  be 
one  way  of  God’s  reward  and  recognition  of  mis¬ 
sionary  consecration? 

Prenatal  aptitudes,  however,  must  be  developed 
by  postnatal  nurture.  Hence  the  injunction  to 
train  up  our  children  “in  the  nurture  and  admoni¬ 
tion  of  the  Lord.” 

What  is  this  nurture? 

It  means,  first  of  all,  making  the  supreme  aim  of 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


all  family  life ,  household  piety ,  everything  else  being 
subordinated  thereto. 

This  implies  authority — pre-eminently  the  proper 
reign  of  law.  “I  know  him  that  he  will  command 
his  children  and  his  household  after  him,”  etc. 
There  can  be  no  Christian  nurture  without  house¬ 
hold  government — authority  supported  by  penalty. 
The  command,  “Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother,” 
stands  first  in  the  second  table — the  leading  place, 
as  the  command,  “Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  be¬ 
fore  Me,”  stands  in  the  first,  and  for  a  reason.  It 
heads  the  second  table  because  for  some  years  of 
the  child’s  life  the  parent  stands  to  him  in  the  place 
of  God— all  the  God  he  knows.  If  he  is  taught  to 
love  and  obey  his  earthly  father,  it  is  both  easy  and 
natural,  when  the  idea  of  a  Father  in  heaven  dawns 
on  his  consciousness,  for  him  to  transfer  love  and 
obedience  to  the  Higher  Authority.  But,  if  the 
child  habitually  rebels  against  the  human  parent,  it 
is  most  natural  that  when  he  comes  to  know  there  is 
a  God,  he  should  transfer  to  Him  his  lawlessness. 

In  this  matter  of  family  life,  neither  husband  nor 
wife  can  throw  on  the  other  all  the  responsibility 
for  the  religious  character  of  the  home.  It  is  a 
very  conspicuous  fact  that  men  are,  as  a  rule,  far 
less  religious  than  women.  Dr.  John  Hall  said 
that  many  men  in  his  congregation  were  only 
“brothers-in-law” — their  wives  being  church  mem¬ 
bers,  but  they  not.  And  there  is  a  lesson  in  the 
merchant's  dream,  who  thought  he  was  refused 

78 


The  Problem  of  the  Family. 


entrance  to  heaven,  as  himself  a  stranger  at  the 
gates;  and,  when  he  apologized  for  his  neglect  of 
sacred  things,  saying  that  he  attended  to  worldly 
things  and  his  wife  went  to  church  and  prayer 
meeting  for  both,  the  answer  was,  “Well,  your  wife 
has  gone  in  for  you  both!” 

This  “nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord”  is 
both  negative  and  positive.  In  Colossians  iii:2i 
Paul  says:  “Provoke  not  your  children  to  anger,” 
and  adds,  “lest  they  be  discouraged.”  They  may 
be  excited  and  enraged  in  various  ways,  such  as  by 
hastiness  of  temper,  by  punishing  instead  of  cor¬ 
recting,  by  indulging  a  severity  of  spirit  instead  of 
kindness  and  love,  by  threatenings  which  it  is  not 
intended  to  execute,  and  promises  it  is  not  meant 
to  perform.  Rash  actions  and  angry  words  may 
provoke  to  wrath  and  discourage  all  efforts  at  obe¬ 
dience,  or,  worse  still,  lead  to  studied  habits  of  de¬ 
ceit,  doing  wrong  on  the  sly  or  hiding  wrong  when 
done;  thus  changing  entirely  the  field  of  effort,  so 
that,  instead  of  trying  to  obey,  the  one  endeavor  will 
be  to  avoid  the  excessive  anger  and  punishment 
which  even  petty  offences  excite. 

The  positive  side  of  this  precept  is,  “Bring  them 
up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord” — 
that  is,  such  education  and  discipline  as  is  required 
by  God,  and  such  as  God  Himself  administers  as  a 
Father  to  His  children.  We  are  to  study  His  fath¬ 
erly  corrections  and  educative  measures  if  we  would 
learn  how  children  should  be  treated.  The  Greek 

79 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


word — paideia — manifestly  includes  all  family  and 
relative  duties,  such  as  love,  respect,  obedience  to 
parents ;  all  doctrines  and  duties,  moralities  and  self- 
denials,  owed  in  church  life ;  and  even  those  honest 
trades  and  honorable  professional  callings  which 
make  a  child  a  respectable,  self-supporting  and  help¬ 
ful  member  of  society,  for,  as  the  Jewish  maxim 
reads,  “He  who  teaches  his  son  no  trade,  teaches  him 
to  steal.”  This  word  is  very  inclusive — it  embraces 
all  that  a  child  ought  to  be  taught  to  make  him  un¬ 
derstand  and  be  able  to  discharge  his  duties  in  the 
family,  church  and  state. 

But  discipline  in  its  proper  sense  (nouthesia) 
must  accompany  such  education.  This  is  the  right 
disposing  of  the  mind  or  nous,  training  it  to  right 
habits  of  thought,  and  noble  resolve — this  teaches 
self-restraint,  moral  control.  Such  discipline  alone 
can  make  education  effective  for  good,  for  it  teaches 
how  to  turn  education  to  a  good  purpose.  To  be 
well  informed  is  good,  but  to  be  well  controlled  is 
better.  An  ideal  family  training  aims  at  both,  and 
especially  puts  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  and  obe¬ 
dience  to  Him  at  the  very  front. 

These  are  the  basal  hints  on  family  training  in 
this  conspicuous  teaching  in  Ephesians  and  Colos- 
sians,  and  it  is  very  noticeable  that  in  these  com¬ 
panion  passages,  where  so  many  similar  exhorta¬ 
tions  occur,  a  strikingly  similar  injunction  precedes: 
in  one  case,  Be  filled  with  the  Spirit,  and  in  the 
other,  Let  the  Word  of  Christ  dwell  in  you  richly  in 

80 


The  Problem  of  the  Family. 


all  wisdom.  No  such  nurture  and  admonition  of  the 
Lord  is  possible  except  where  the  parents  are  filled 
with  the  Word  and  the  Spirit.  All  parents  should 
be  sustained  by  the  recollection  that  when  God 
made  His  representative  covenant  with  Abram  the 
central  and  permanent  provision  was  this,  “/  will  be 
a  God  to  thee  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee”  The  other 
provisions  concerning  the  land,  a  numerous  seed, 
etc.,  and  the  special  rite  of  circumcision,  belonging  to 
the  Hebrew  people  and  were  more  or  less  transient; 
but  the  central  promise  was  universal  and  perpetual : 
*7  will  be  a  God  to  thee  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee.” 

Godly  “nurture  and  admonition”  seem  to  include 
such  elements  as  the  following:  Habitual  instruc¬ 
tion  in  the  Word  of  God,  as  the  authoritative  law 
of  life ;  constant  recognition  of  God  as  the  supreme 
Father  and  household  Head;  a  prayerful  atmos¬ 
phere  pervading  home  life,  and  breathed  by  all  who 
share  it;  a  cherishing  and  exalting  of  scriptural 
ideals  of  character  and  conduct;  a  kind  but  firm 
oversight  of  companionships,  occupations  and 
amusements;  a  study  to  make  home  attractive,  so 
that  its  associations  are  a  delight.  But,  above  all, 
the  centrality  of  the  Person  and  Work  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

Careful  parents  will  not  overlook  even  the  un¬ 
conscious  influence  of  a  child’s  surroundings.  The 
books,  papers  and  periodicals  that  find  their  way 
into  a  home;  the  pictures  that  hang  on  the  walls; 
the  occasional  guests  that  sit  at  the  table — these  and 

81 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


a  thousand  other  quiet  and  subtle  forces  give  shape 
to  character.  A  prominent  sea  captain  once  de¬ 
clared  that  the  marine  paintings  in  his  home  sent 
him  to  sea,  and  an  Indian  missionary  said  that  the 
life  of  Harriet  Newell  sent  her  abroad. 

Family  Unity  is  of  momentous  importance.  The 
household  force  should  be  centripetal,  not  centrif¬ 
ugal,  if  children  are  not  to  break  loose  from  its 
solar  system  and  become  wandering  stars.  The 
ideas  and  ideals  of  the  household  should  be  one, 
especially  on  moral  and  religious  subjects,  and  as 
far  as  may  me,  on  intellectual.  In  a  sense,  every 
true  family  should  be  exclusive  and  seclusive.  The 
most  abundant  hospitality  should  not  turn  a  home 
into  a  hotel.  Some  elements  are  often,  in  a  bad 
sense,  “foreign.”  The  holy  Scriptures  quaintly  re¬ 
cord  how  “outlandish  women  caused  Solomon  to 
sin” — women  from  outside  the  land  who  came  into 
his  harem  bringing  notions  and  customs  foreign  to 
the  life  and  habits  of  Israel,  idolatrous,  irreligious, 
un- Jewish.  A  prudent  mother,  whose  success  in 
household  training  was  unusual,  would  not  allow 
her  children  to  spend  a  night  among  strangers,  not 
knowing  what  family  heresies,  wrong  notions  or 
practices  they  might  learn.  It  involves  risk  to  en¬ 
courage  outsiders  to  make  free  at  all  times  with  the 
home ;  visits  should  be  rare,  invited  and  select.  God 
never  meant  the  sacred  precincts  of  home  to  be  a 
sort  of  free  runway  for  indiscriminate  waifs  from 
the  street  or  from  other  houses.  The  intimacies  of 

82 


The  Problem  of  the  Family. 


children  may  determine  their  whole  future.  Parents 
carelessly  let  people  have  free  access  to  their  chil¬ 
dren,  who  undermine  their  authority,  overturn  their 
ideals,  and  sow  the  seeds  of  frivolity  if  not  iniquity 
before  they  are  aware.  In  a  sense,  every  household 
is  to  be  a  little  church  with  “close  communion.” 

So  far  as  the  family  is  one,  much  depends  on 
keeping  it  one.  Children  should  be  taught,  while 
under  the  parental  roof,  dependent  on  the  parents 
and  forming  part  of  the  family  life,  not  to  bring 
into  it  discordant  elements,  to  introduce  new  ideas 
and  practices.  The  intimacies  of  children  should 
be  guarded,  for  it  is  easy  for  members  of  another 
family,  brought  up  in  a  totally  different  school  or 
none  at  all,  to  bring  in  what  is  essentially  a  foreign 
speech  and  notions  utterly  repugnant  to  the  parent. 

It  is  questionable  whether  children  should  be  per¬ 
mitted  to  attend  places  of  worship  where  they  hear 
doctrines  or  witness  practices  which  are  opposed  to 
parental  convictions.  When  they  get  old  enough  to 
think  for  themselves,  should  they  come  deliberately 
and  conscientiously  to  a  new  conviction  concerning 
church  matters,  wise  parents  will  help  them  to  fol¬ 
low  convictions.  But  ordinarily  wanderers  to  other 
church  folds  are  moved  not  by  conscientious  convic¬ 
tions,  but  by  unreasonable  and  childish  caprices 
which  should  be  suppressed. 

The  main  elements  that,  together,  make  up  an 
ideal  household,  according  to  the  Scriptural  pattern, 
are  Law,  Love,  Liberty,  Life,  Unity,  Sanctity  and 

83 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


Ministry;  in  other  words,  authority,  affection  or 
sympathy,  a  living  example,  freedom  of  action,  a 
common  aim,  a  holy  atmosphere,  and  a  training  for 
unselfish  service.  Without  any  of  these  there  is  a 
serious  if  not  fatal  defect,  and  the  highest  results 
are  forfeited. 

There  must  be  authority  in  order  to  any  true 
unity.  No  family  can  be  properly  brought  up  with¬ 
out  household  law  asserted  and  enforced.  Law  im¬ 
plies  sanctions,  reward  and  punishment,  and  these 
are  especially  important  in  early  childhood,  when  as 
yet  moral  character  is  unformed  and  moral  motives 
not  fully  understood  or  appreciated.  Rules  should 
be  simple,  clear,  reasonable  and  inflexible,  like  the 
ten  commandments — a  few  great  moral  rules,  in¬ 
stead  of  a  multitude  of  petty  restrictions.  One  way 
of  needlessly  provoking  children  to  wrath  is  to 
hamper  them  with  a  thousand  trifling  restraints 
and  minute  regulations  that  are  capricious  and  are 
due  to  a  fastidious  temper  in  the  parent.  These 
sometimes  constitute  a  yoke  that  neither  our  fathers 
nor  we  were  able  to  bear,  such  as  must  have  con¬ 
strained  a  little  girl  in  America,  when  her  teacher 
asked  her  full  name,  to  answer,  “Mamma  always 
calls  me  Mary  Don't!” 

As  to  punishment  and  reward,  a  small  recognition 
may  be  as  effective  as  a  much  greater  one,  if  asso¬ 
ciated  with  the  idea  of  reward,  and  a  slight  ounish- 
ment,  if  it  invariably  follows  an  offence,  as  effective 
as  a  severer  penalty  that  is  uncertain  and  capricious. 

84 


The  Problem  of  the  Family. 


But  punishment  should  always  be  administered 
calmly  and  deliberately  and  lovingly,  and  not  pas¬ 
sionately,  hastily  and  angrily.  The  spirit  and  tem¬ 
per  of  the  parent  in  chastisement  will  be  likely  to 
awaken  a  similar  spirit  in  the  child — if  impatient,  or 
angry,  or  resentful,  or  harsh,  it  kindles  its  like;  if 
a  punishment  is  inflicted  in  sorrow  and  love  it  is 
apt  to  soften  and  subdue  and  often  draws  the  child 
closer  to  the  parent.  It  should  always  be  plain  that 
the  punishment  costs  more  to  the  parent  who  inflicts 
it  than  to  the  child  who  suffers.  Here  lies  the  great 
power  of  the  cross:  it  shows  the  Love  of  God.  It 
was  a  visitation  of  penalty  upon  sin  that  cost  God 
everything  and  cost  the  sinner  nothing.  The  Law¬ 
giver  took  the  punishment  on  Himself ! 

But  authority  there  must  be,  and  it  must  be  main¬ 
tained. 

“For  I  know  him,  that  he  will  command  his 
household  after  him,  and  they  shall  keep  the  way  of 
the  Lord,  to  do  justice  and  judgment;  that  the  Lord 
may  bring  upon  Abraham  that  which  he  hath  spoken 
of  him.”  Notice,  “he  will  command ” — there  was 
simple  authority,  but  it  concerned  the  greatest  mat¬ 
ters — the  gravest  issues — to  keep  the  way  of  the 
Lord,  etc.,  fidelity  to  God  and  man — and  this  fidelity 
on  Abraham's  part  was  the  necessary  condition  of 
the  blessing  God  had  promised  to  his  house. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  second  table  of  the  Law  puts 
submission  to  parental  authority  supreme  among  all 
human  obligations,  as  in  the  first  table  the  worship 

85 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


and  service  of  the  One  God;  because  obedience  to 
parents  is  paramount,  not  only  the  basis  of  all  hu¬ 
man  society  and  welfare,  but  the  basis  of  piety  to¬ 
wards  God ;  for  it  is  a  basal  fact  and  truth  that  there 
is  a  period  in  child  life,  when  as  yet  he  has  no  idea 
of  God,  when  the  parent  stands  to  him  in  the  place 
of  God.  As,  therefore,  he  is  taught  and  learns  to 
treat  his  earthly  father  he  will  be  likely  to  treat  his 
heavenly  Father  when  old  enough  to  apprehend  the 
fact  of  His  existence  and  claims. 

Great  importance  attaches  also  to  household  hab¬ 
its,  which  may  create  an  atmosphere  in  which  mor¬ 
ality  and  piety  thrive  and  vice  and  unbelief  are 
stifled. 

In  Deuteronomy  vi  '.4-g  is  pictured  a  family  life, 
where  Jehovah  is  supremely  loved  by  the  parents, 
where  His  law  is  written  on  the  fleshly  tablets  of 
the  heart,  and  out  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart  the 
mouth  speaketh.  God’s  commands  are  a  habitual 
subject  of  conversation  and  guide  to  conduct, 
whether  seated  in  the  house  or  walking  by  the  way, 
when  lying  down  or  rising  up;  bound  for  a  sign  on 
the  hand  and  worn  as  frontlets  between  the  eyes ; 
written  upon  the  door  posts  of  the  house  and  the 
gates.  Such  figures  of  speech  plainly  imply  that, 
whether  resting  or  moving,  beginning  or  ending  the 
day,  thinking  or  working,  God’s  name  and  word 
are  to  be  supreme,  and  even  strangers  going  in  and 
out  are  to  see  and  feel  this  supremacy  of  God. 

Nothing  tells  on  the  child  like  this  general  Life 

86 


The  Problem  of  the  Family. 


of  the  home.  Teaching  that  reaches  no  farther 
back  than  the  lips  will  commonly  pierce  no  further 
in  than  the  ear.  What  teaches  most  is  character — 
character  that  stands  like  a  grand  oak  of  Bashan  or 
cedar  of  Lebanon  in  the  crises  of  storm — a  faith 
that  trusts  in  promises  when  human  props  give  way, 
a  courage  that  dares  to  follow  in  face  of  danger,  an 
unselfishness  that  both  lives  and  gives  to  the  point 
of  real  self-sacrifice,  an  integrity  that  can  stand  firm 
before  seductive  temptation.  What  parents  do  and 
arc  in  the  Crises  of  Life — that  is  what  most  teaches 
and  impresses  children. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Church  of  God. 

% 

Four  texts  of  Holy  Scripture  again  form  our  ba¬ 
sis: 

( 1 )  “Upon  this  rock  I  will  build  My  church ;  and 
the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it”  (Matt, 
xvi  :i8). 

(2)  “The  house  of  God,  which  is  the  church  of 
the  living  God”  (1  Tim.  iii  :i5) . 

(3)  “Ye  are  the  temple  of  God,  and  the  Spirit  of 
God  dwelleth  in  you”  (1  Cor.  iii:  16). 

(4)  “The  church  of  the  firstborn,  which  are  writ¬ 
ten  in  heaven”  (Heb.  xii:23). 

In  the  first  we  have  the  rock-basis  of  the  Church ; 
In  the  second  the  Divine  ownership  of  the  Church; 
in  the  third  the  presiding  presence  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  the  Church ;  and  in  the  fourth  the  Church 
register. 

The  family  and  the  Church  are  intimately  asso¬ 
ciated.  The  family  may  be,  and  ought  to  be,  a 
smaller  church — “the  church  that  is  in  the  house,” 
as  in  olden  times,  with  the  father  as  a  kind  of  offi¬ 
ciating  priest,  with  prophetic  powers  and  kingly 
authority.  And  as  the  family  is  a  smaller  church, 
the  church  is  a  larger  family.  But,  while  the  family 

88 


The  Church  of  God. 


originated  in  Eden,  there  would  have  been  no 
church  but  for  the  Fall.  The  family  pertains  to 
man’s  sinless  state;  the  church  to  man’s  redeemed 
state. 

It  is  always  necessary  to  return  to  Biblical  ideas 
and  ideals,  because  of  a  remarkable  tendency  to 
deviate  from  Divine  conceptions.  Man  is  always 
swinging,  like  a  pendulum,  from  sin,  on  the  one 
side,  to  sorrow  for  sin  on  the  other;  but,  unfortu¬ 
nately,  prone  never  to  hold  the  golden  mean  of  fidel¬ 
ity  and  loyalty  to  God ;  and  we  shall  need  some  in¬ 
trepidity,  some  courageous  candour,  to  discuss  this 
question  of  the  church  so  as  to  have  the  approval  of 
our  Master,  for  in  nothing,  perhaps,  have  we  more 
departed  from  Divine  ideas  and  ideals  than  in  our 
church  life.  Let  us  therefore  seek  to  ascertain  from 
the  Word  of  God  what  is  God’s  thought  concerning 
His  church.  If  we  examine  the  Bible  carefully,  we 
shall  find  seven  things  that  enter  into  the  Scriptural 
conception  of  the  Church  of  God: 

(1)  Separation; 

(2)  Society,  or  Association; 

(3)  Service,  or  mutual  helpfulness; 

(4)  Worship; 

(5)  Work  in  the  evangelization  of  the  world ; 

(6)  Witness  to  the  truth  of  God  in  His  Word, 
and  especially  as  represented  in  the  Person  and 
work  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord; 

(7)  — greatest  of  all,  and  giving  emphasis  to  all 
the  rest — the  presiding  Presence  of  the  Invisible 

89 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

God,  the  Holy  Spirit,  making  the  church  His  habi¬ 
tation. 

Taking  these  Divine  ideas  from  the  Word  of  God, 
we  might  construct  a  definition,  for  practical  and 
ethical  purposes,  somewhat  thus:  “The  Church  is 
an  organized  body  of  Christian  believers,  indwelt 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  called  out  into  separation  from 
the  world,  for  mutual  service  and  spiritual  worship, 
for  the  great  work  of  a  world’s  evangelization,  and 
permanent  witness  to  the  Word  of  God  and  the 
Christ  of  God.”  I  ask  attention  to  a  few  elements 
that  enter  into  this  definition,  dwelling  specially 
upon  some  of  them. 

First,  the  idea  of  Separation.  That  word  is  writ¬ 
ten,  as  in  letters  of  flame,  on  the  whole  of  the  Bible, 
Old  and  New  Testaments.  In  Lev.  xx:25,  26,  we 
are  taught  what  was  the  great  ulterior  purpose  of 
the  Levitical  dispensation,  and  its  distinctions  be¬ 
tween  clean  and  unclean  persons  and  animals  and 
things.  It  was  designed  typically  to  teach  the  peo¬ 
ple  of  God  that  He  had  severed  them  from  all  other 
peoples  that  they  should  be  His.  And  in  the  New 
Testament  we  have  the  doctrinal  unfolding  of  the 
typical  truth  indicated  in  the  ceremonial  law.  In 
2  Cor.  vi:i7  to  vii:i — that  most  memorable  pas¬ 
sage — we  read :  “Wherefore  come  out  from  among 
them,  and  be  ye  separate,  saith  the  Lord,  and  touch 
not  the  unclean,  and  I  will  receive  you,  and  will  be 
a  Father  unto  you,  and  ye  shall  be  My  sons  and 
daughters,  saith  the  Lord  Almighty.  Having,  there¬ 
to 


The  Church  of  God. 


fore,  these  promises,  dearly  beloved,  let  us  cleanse 
ourselves  from  all  filthiness  of  the  flesh,  and  spirit, 
perfecting  holiness  in  the  fear  of  God.” 

Thus  we  have  the  law  of  separation,  in  the  Old 
Testament,  typically  enunciated  and  exhibited;  and 
the  spiritual  explanation  and  application  of  the  law 
of  separation  in  the  doctrinal  portion  of  the  Epis¬ 
tles.  This  idea  of  separation  is  absolutely  funda¬ 
mental  in  the  conception  of  the  Church  of  God. 

II.  Next,  look  at  the  feature  of  Association .  The 
Church  of  God  is  an  organic  body,  with  a  social 
bond.  It  is  the  Body  of  Christ ;  and  all  are  members 
one  of  another.  It  is  in  the  highest  sense  a  celestial 
democracy,  established  upon  the  earth,  in  which 
there  are  to  be  no  divisions — barbarian,  Scythian, 
bond,  free,  male,  female;  but  “all  one  in  Christ 
Jesus.”  It  need  not  be  said  how  far  the  Church  of 
God  has  departed  from  this  Divine  ideal. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  melancholy  things  in 
human  history.  For  three  centuries  the  Church  pre¬ 
served  much  of  its  original  equality ;  the  poor  and 
the  rich  were  on  a  common  plane,  with  very  little 
distinction  between  them.  There  were  no  invidious 
distinctions  in  Apostolic  days.  When  Constantine 
was  converted,  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  cen¬ 
tury,  he  introduced  into  the  Church  an  ecclesiastical 
hierarchy,  with  a  score  of  grades  and  ranks,  based 
not  upon  spiritual  attainments,  but  in  the  interests 
of  political  preferment ;  and  the  via  crucis,  the  way 
of  the  Cross,  became  the  via  lucis,  the  way  of 

91 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


worldly  light  and  glory.  The  period  of  formation 
of  the  Church  was  past,  and  the  period  of  deforma¬ 
tion  began,  and  waited  a  thousand  years  for  the 
period  of  reformation.  During  that  period  of  de¬ 
formation  there  were  two  melancholy  characteristics 
of  the  so-called  church — putrefaction  and  petrifac¬ 
tion — the  loss  of  godly  savour  and  the  loss  of  godly 
sensibility.  The  Church  has  never  recovered  herself 
from  her  inoculation  with  the  virus  of  the  caste 
spirit,  and  we  are  bold  to  utter  a  protest  against  all 
these  invidious  class  distinctions  in  the  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ.  God  never  meant  that  there  should 
be  these  sharp  lines  between  high  and  low,  rich  and 
poor,  learned  and  ignorant,  inside  this  celestial  soci¬ 
ety.  And  it  is  a  suicidal  policy  for  the  Church  to 
encourage  it.  John  Wesley  said :  “God  has  chosen 
the  poor  of  this  world,  rich  in  faith,  and  heirs  of  the 
promises.  The  rich  may  make  good  scaffolding, 
but  they  make  very  poor  building  material.”  The 
best  building  materials  of  the  Church  are  God’s 
poor.  And  not  only  is  this  a  suicidal  policy  in 
breaking  up  the  unity  which  God  meant  should 
characterize  the  Body  of  Christ,  but  it  is  utterly 
fatal  to  the  work  of  winning  souls.  Chalmers  said : 
“The  neglecters  of  the  Church  are  the  people  that 
have  first  been  neglected  by  the  Church.”  John 
Hall  said  that  while  in  Britain  the  distinction  is  be¬ 
tween  Churchmen  and  Dissenters,  there  is  getting 
to  be,  all  over  the  world,  a  difference  between 
churchgoers  and  absenters. 

92 


The  Church  of  God. 


We  have  all  seen  painful  illustrations  of  this 
caste  spirit.  In  India  is  a  caste  system — a  cellular 
structure  of  society,  so  rigid  that  the  cells  never 
interpenetrate;  but  we  have  a  caste  system  in  the 
very  Church  itself,  and  the  cells  have  little  or  no 
communication.  Dr.  Josiah  Strong  tells  of  a  New 
England  city  where,  in  a  great  conflagration,  a  poor 
workingman,  unknown  to  those  present,  rushed  into 
a  burning  house  and  rescued  a  poor  sick  woman 
and  her  helpless  children,  and  then  as  quietly  retired 
to  his  own  home.  A  minister  of  the  Gospel,  moved 
by  his  heroism,  sought  him  out  and  asked  him, 
“Where  do  you  go  to  church?”  “Nowhere.”  “Why 
not?”  “I  cannot  pay  pew  rent,  and  it  is  more  than 
I  can  do  to  get  enough  money  respectably  to  clothe 
my  family.  We  have  not  fit  clothes  to  go  into  a 
house  of  worship  in.”  “Well,  I  will  see  that  you 
have  clothes,  and  that  you  do  not  have  to  pay  any 
pew  rent.”  The  minister  sent  him  clothing  for  himself 
and  his  whole  family,  and  then  brought  the  family 
to  church  next  Sunday,  and  seated  them  in  his  own 
pew.  In  the  mid-week  service  he  went  into  his 
church  meeting  with  a  glowing  heart,  and  told  his 
people  what  he  had  done.  One  of  the  members, 
and  principal  financial  supporters,  rose  and  said: 
“I  think  the  pastor  has  made  a  mistake.  We  do  not 
want  such  men  in  this  church.  They  would  not  be 
at  home  here,  nor  should  we  be  at  home  with  them. 
The  man  and  his  family  would  better  go  to  some 
mission!”  The  pastor  rejoined,  “If  this  is  the  sen- 

93 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


timent  of  my  people,  I  resign  my  charge,  for  God 
forbid  that  I  should  be  the  pastor  of  any  church 
that  will  not  open  its  doors  wide  to  any  soul  that 
wants  to  hear  the  Gospel.,, 

I  had  some  like  personal  experience  in  this  mat¬ 
ter  when  in  1876  my  church  building  was  burned 
and  we  held  services  in  the  opera  house,  free  to  all, 
where  I  preached  the  Gospel  to  the  people  for  six¬ 
teen  months,  with  remarkable  results.  A  new  church 
was  built,  and,  like  the  old  one,  the  pews  were  both 
sold  and  rented,  and  visitors  found  a  barrier  of  ex¬ 
clusiveness  which  they  could  not  easily  pass.  I  be¬ 
sought  my  people  that  the  pews  might  be  free  in 
the  evenings,  and  this  was  agreed  to.  We  sent  out 
a  band  of  young  men,  who  scattered  invitations  at 
the  street  corners,  hotels,  saloons  and  elsewhere, 
until  we  had  to  furnish  extra  sitting  accommoda¬ 
tions,  yet  some  people  of  that  church  went  to  the 
ushers  and  said:  "If  we  are  not  here  at  night,  do 
not  turn  any  visitors  into  our  pews.”  So,  when  the 
house  was  otherwise  crowded,  there  were  still  va¬ 
cant  pews.  I  went  to  the  ushers,  and  they  told  me 
the  instructions  they  had  received.  I  said:  “Obey 
my  instructions ;  fill  these  pews,  and  I  will  take  the 
responsibility.”  For  a  church  of  God  to  encourage 
caste  like  that,  and  put  barriers  in  the  way  of  win¬ 
ning  souls,  is  a  burning  shame  wherever  found. 

III.  The  question  of  Service  will  be  more  fully 
discussed  later  on.  But  what  words  are  those  in 
Rom.  xii  and  1  Cor.  xii,  about  the  Body  of  Christ, 

94 


The  Church  of  God. 


and  the  Holy  Spirit,  distributing  spheres  and  gifts 
of  service,  according  to  His  own  will — room  enough 
for  all,  so  that  no  one  may  feel  shut  out;  work 
given  to  all,  so  that  none  may  feel  useless;  every 
one  necessary,  so  that  all  may  be  helpful ;  every  one 
receiving  the  power  of  God,  so  that  no  one  may  de¬ 
spair;  every  one  dependent  on  God,  so  that  none 
may  presume.  What  a  wonderful  organism  is  the 
Body  of  Christ,  and  what  a  distribution  of  service 
there  is  in  connection  with  it! 

There  are  three  great  forms  of  service:  one  is 
the  giving  of  substance  statedly,  self-denyingly  and 
systematically  unto  the  Lord ;  another  is  the  witness, 
both  of  lip  and  life,  to  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus; 
again  there  is  prayer — supplication  and  intercession 
for  ourselves  and  for  all  men.  How  simple  those 
three  forms  of  service  are !  And  to  them  every  one 
may  contribute. 

IV.  A  great  feature  of  church  life  is  Worship — 
that  is,  “worth-ship” — ascribing  worth  to  Almighty 
God,  describing  His  worth  in  fit  terms,  inscribing 
His  worth  upon  the  whole  house  of  God  and  every 
service  conducted  within  it.  Worship  is  nowhere 
so  magnificently  expressed  as  in  the  Apocalypse. 
“Thou  art  worthy,  O  Lord,  to  receive  glory,  and 
honour,  and  power.”  The  whole  book  echoes  with 
these  ideal  tributes  of  worship  to  the  only  worthy 
Object  of  worship. 

Two  things  specially  enter  into  worship:  the 
thought  of  the  exaltation  of  God  above  all  else,  and 

95 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


the  privilege  of  spiritual  communion  with  Him. 
Therefore,  there  are  two  things  that  interfere  with 
worship;  and  they  are,  more  or  less,  a  blight  upon 
the  whole  Church  of  Jesus  Christ.  One  is  external- 
ism,  and  the  other  is  aestheticism. 

Externalism  is  the  disposition  to  substitute  forms 
for  spirit;  it  is  what  we  call  ritualism,  a  word  that 
many  use  without  stopping  to  think  what  it  means. 
There  is  a  certain  amount  of  form  necessary  to  the 
preservation  of  the  substance  of  worship,  just  as  the 
skin  of  the  banana,  which  is  not  edible,  is  necessary 
for  the  formation  and  preservation  of  the  heart  of 
the  banana,  which  is  edible.  But  what  if  some  peo¬ 
ple  chew  the  skin  and  throw  the  heart  away !  That 
is  a  Baganda  preacher’s  quaint  satire  on  ritualism. 

We  must  not  expect  to  preserve  the  heart  of  wor¬ 
ship  without  some  measure  of  form.  That  runs  to 
irreverence  and  fanaticism.  We  need  form,  but  no 
more  than  what  is  necessary  for  the  preservation 
and  conservation  of  spiritual  religion.  Just  so  far 
as  the  Church  declines  in  spirituality  she  multiplies 
her  forms,  and  sinks  into  formality.  It  was  so  with 
the  Jews.  When  spirituality  declined  among  them, 
they  took  refuge  in  their  rites  and  ceremonies.  Their 
forms  became  mechanical,  oppressive  and  arbitrary 
to  the  last  degree.  And,  in  the  Church  of  God, 
whenever  spiritual  religion  declines,  formalism  pre¬ 
vails  ;  and  whenever  the  spiritual  revives,  forms  are 
burst  asunder,  just  as  the  cords  about  Samson  were 
when  he  woke  up  and  shook  himself.  Let  the 

96 


The  Church  of  God. 


Church  become  spiritual,  and  she  throws  away 
whatever  forms  are  superfluous,  what  are  really 
fetters  on  the  soaring  wings  of  supplication. 

Then,  too,  aestheticism  involves  great  danger.  We 
justify  art ;  we  say :  “Nothing  can  be  too  good,  no 
building  too  beautiful,  no  choir  too  artistic,  no 
preacher  too  eloquent.” 

This  is  often  a  great  mistake.  Whatever  attracts 
attention  to  itself,  and  away  from  God,  is  hostile  to 
worship.  If  we  build  a  beautiful  building,  and 
everybody  that  goes  into  it  is  gazing  at  its  architec¬ 
ture,  and  stained  windows,  its  garniture  and  furni¬ 
ture,  and  forgetting  God,  it  is  a  hindrance  to  wor¬ 
ship.  As  for  eloquent  oratory,  as  such,  it  has  no 
place  in  the  Church.  The  pulpit  is  not  the  place  for 
any  eloquence,  except  it  be  the  eloquence  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  Wisdom  of  words  makes  the  Cross  of 
Christ  of  none  effect,  for  the  essays  of  the  rheto¬ 
rician  and  the  arts  of  the  declaimer  only  tend  to 
obscure  the  great  purpose  for  which  preaching  is 
established  in  the  world.  Beware  of  aestheticism! 
The  punctilious,  fastidious  taste,  the  unsanctified 
art  that  exalts  the  aesthetic,  lowers  the  spiritual ! 

Look  for  a  few  moments  at  the  Tabernacle  (rep¬ 
resented  on  chart  VIII.),  erected  in  the  desert.  There 
was  scarce  a  feature  of  it  that  was  beautiful ;  in  fact, 
some  of  it  violated  all  aesthetic  laws.  Those  cherubic 
figures  represented  a  complex  being,  with  one  head 
of  an  ox,  one  of  a  man,  one  of  a  lion,  and  one  of 
an  eagle.  Can  you  put  these  together  and  make 

07 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


real  beauty?  An  animal  with  these  four  heads 
would  be  thought  a  monster.  Then  look  at  the 
colors.  Blue  and  purple  and  scarlet  and  white  put 
together  on  the  same  curtain — some  would  call  it 
tawdry. 

But  God,  in  all  this,  had  a  spiritual  purpose — not 
an  artistic  one.  He  was  teaching  some  great  spirit¬ 
ual  truths.  He  directed  the  cherubic  figure,  with 
those  four  different  faces,  to  be  wrought  there,  be¬ 
cause  He  was  not  calling  His  people’s  attention  to 
an  artistic  display,  but  to  spiritual  types.  Truths 
lay  behind  the  device.  And  He  had  those  strongly 
contrasted  colors  because  scarlet  is  the  color  of 
blood,  blue  represents  the  fidelity  of  God,  purple  is 
the  color  of  royalty,  white  the  color  of  purity,  and 
again  He  was  teaching  great  lessons  about  spiritual 
things. 

A  distinct  command  follows  immediately  upon 
the  giving  of  the  Decalogue,  as  though  there  were 
some  particular  significance  and  intention  about  it. 
“And  if  thou  wilt  make  Me  an  altar,  thou  shalt  not 
build  it  of  hewn  stone;  for  if  thou  lift  up  thy  tool 
upon  it,  thou  hast  polluted  it.”  Why  is  this?  If  He 
had  allowed  them  to  erect  an  altar  of  hewn  stone, 
the  aestheticism  of  the  altar  might  have  caused  the 
spiritual  purpose  of  it  to  be  forgotten.  He  wanted 
their  eyes  fixed  upon  that  bleeding  victim,  not  on 
the  beauty  of  the  altar  that  held  it.  Afterward, 
Ahaz,  like  modern  aesthetic  people,  went  over  to 
Damascus,  and  saw  an  altar  there  which  had  some 

98 


The  Church  of  God. 


sculptured  images  upon  it,  and  so  he  displaced  the 
true  altar  of  God,  and  put  another  altar,  like  the 
Damascus  altar,  in  place  of  it.  That  is  what  the 
Church  of  God  does  when  simplicity  is  crowded 
out  to  make  room  for  elaborate  art.  A  congregation 
sent  a  committee  to  look  for  a  minister.  The  com¬ 
mittee  came  back  and  reported  in  favor  of  a  man 
who  was  eloquent  as  an  orator  and  a  fine  platform 
speaker.  One  who  had  listened  to  the  report  of  the 
committee  said :  “I  should  like  to  know  whether  he 
preaches  the  Gospel.”  “Well,  we  did  not  really 
inquire  as  to  that.” 

In  many  a  church  and  chapel  there  is  a  godless 
man  presiding  at  the  organ  and  a  choir  of  worldly 
people  leading  the  service  of  sacred  song.  Has  any¬ 
body  a  right  to  preside  at  such  an  instrument,  or 
lead  the  service  of  song,  in  the  house  of  God,  who 
is  not  appointed  and  anointed  of  the  Spirit  for  the 
work?  These  are  not  palatable  truths,  but  they  are 
truths.  Whatever  does  not  exalt  God  drags  Him 
down  from  His  high  exaltation  in  the  Church  and 
is  a  desecration  and  a  disgrace ;  and  we  must  be  very 
careful  not  to  corrupt  our  worship,  on  the  one  hand, 
by  externalism,  and,  on  the  other,  by  aestheticism. 

V.  The  Church’s  function  in  the  world  is,  large¬ 
ly,  Witness.  Like  the  word  separation,  this  is  writ¬ 
ten  large  over  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New. 
“Ye  are  my  witnesses,  saith  the  Lord.”  How  often 
that  occurs,  especially  in  the  evangelical  Prophecy 
of  Isaiah.  And  what  does  our  Lord  say  ?  “Ye  shall 

99 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


receive  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  coming  upon 
you  (margin) ;  and  ye  shall  be  witnesses  unto  Me, 
unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth.”  What  do 
the  Apostles  say?  “We  are  His  witnesses  of  these 
things.” 

“Witness”  is  derived  from  an  old  Saxon  root 
(witan,  to  know),  from  which  comes  the  word  wit, 
which  in  its  original  sense  is  knowledge.  Witness¬ 
ing  is  therefore  telling  what  one  knows — that  is  all. 
You  cannot  tell  what  you  do  not  know,  though  you 
may  attempt  to ;  you  may  know  what  you  do  not  tell, 
which,  unhappily,  many  also  do.  But  a  witness  for 
God  is  one  that  knows  God,  and  simply  tells  what  he 
knows.  It  requires  no  elaborate  statement,  no  high 
degree  of  education,  no  eloquent  presentation.  Any¬ 
body  who  knows  the  Word,  and  knows  Christ,  and 
knows  the  Spirit,  and,  out  of  a  full  heart,  even  with 
a  stammering  tongue,  speaks  of  what  he  knows,  is  a 
witness  for  God.  And  here  is  the  universal  privilege 
into  which  every  child  of  God  is  welcomed. 

It  is  very  important  for  us  to  know  to  what  we 
should  bear  witness,  and  here  we  shall  not  differ. 
There  are  two  or  three  great  subjects  and  objects 
of  witness. 

One  is  the  inspired  Word  of  God.  Unto  us, 
as  unto  the  Jews,  are  committed  the  oracles  of  God ; 
only  that  the  Jew  had  not  the  complete  oracles.  He 
had  the  Old  Testament,  and  considered  it  his  highest 
privilege  to  be  the  conservator  and  curator  of  the 
Old  Testament  Scriptures.  We  have  also  the  New 

ioo 


The  Church  of  God. 


Testament,  which  he  did  not.  The  Church  of  God 
is  like  the  ark  that  went  in  the  midst  of  the  children 
of  Israel  in  their  journey ings,  which  they  regarded 
as  a  sacred  treasure  entrusted  to  their  keeping.  And 
what  did  the  ark  contain  ?  Look  in  Heb.  ix :  The 
tables,  written  by  the  hand  of  God — the  tables  of  an 
unbroken  law,  typical  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  perfectly 
obedient  One ;  Aaron’s  rod  that  budded  and  bore  at 
once  buds  and  blossoms  and  almonds — a  very  pe¬ 
culiar  fact,  remarkable  in  its  typical  teaching;  and 
then  the  pot  of  manna.  We  shall  not  be  pressing 
typology  to  an  extreme  if  we  say  that  the  ark  thus 
represented  the  treasures  of  God’s  Word,  Christ  as 
the  Bread  of  Life,  the  true  Manna  of  God  from 
heaven,  the  great  High  Priest  and  Teacher,  who, 
like  Aaron’s  rod,  swallows  all  others,  and  is  the 
only  one  among  them  all  that  buds  and  blossoms 
and  bears  fruit.  The  Church  of  God  is  the  custo¬ 
dian  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  God’s  living  oracles, 
of  the  doctrine  of  Christ  as  the  Bread  of  Life  for  a 
perishing  world,  and  as  High  Priest  and  Intercessor 
before  God,  and  man’s  Infallible  Teacher. 

Observe  this :  God’s  seal  of  verity  and  reality  is 
upon  the  Church  of  Christ  as  such  just  so  far  as 
this  witness  is  maintained;  only  so  far  has  the 
Church  assurance  of  stability — as  built  upon  the 
Rock ;  and  assurance  of  victory,  that  even  ^he  gates 
of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it ;  and  assurance  of 
conquest  of  an  unbelieving  world,  which  is  to  be 
accomplished  through  the  power  of  the  Spirit  work- 

IOI 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


ing  through  the  truth  of  her  testimony.  With  char¬ 
ity  to  all,  and  with  malice  toward  none,  we  express 
the  deep  conviction  that  any  church  that  denies  the 
infallibility  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  the  Deity 
and  atoning  work  of  Jesus  Christ,  has,  in  God’s 
eyes,  no  claim  to  be  a  church.  It  may  be  a  religious 
club,  it  may  be  a  philanthropic  society,  but  it  is  not 
a  church  of  Christ.  There  are  some  solemn  warn¬ 
ings  in  Rev.  ii  and  iii — that  a  church  that  denies  the 
infallibility  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  Deity  and 
atoning  work  of  Christ,  may  become  even  a  “syna¬ 
gogue”  and  “seat  of  Satan.” 

The  Tabernacle  was  God's  first  permanent  object- 
lesson  about  all  the  great  truths  of  redemptive  his¬ 
tory  and  redemptive  plan,  representing  Christ  as 
the  Altar  of  Burnt  Offering,  the  Source  of  Regen¬ 
eration,  the  Bread  of  Life,  the  Light  of  the  World, 
the  Medium  of  all  supplication  and  intercession,  the 
ground  of  all  acceptance,  and  the  intimate  personal 
fellow-Deity  with  God. 

This  same  Tabernacle  illustrates  the  whole  life 
and  career  of  the  disciple.  Whether  designedly  typ¬ 
ical  of  it  or  not,  everything  we  have  found  charac¬ 
teristic  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  finds  expres¬ 
sion  in  this  remarkable  structure. 

For  instance,  the  Church  of  Christ  is,  first  of  all, 
indwelt  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  That  is  one  great  car¬ 
dinal  fact.  In  the  Tabernacle,  in  the  holiest,  the 

Shekinah  fire,  the  presence  of  God,  dwelt  in  power. 

102 


HOLY  OF  HOLIES 

''mercy  seat 


ARK 

SECOND  VEIL 


ALTAR  OF  INCENSE 


HOLY  PLACE 


GOLDEN  TABLE 


CANDLESTICK  SHEW  DREAD 


FIRST  VAIL 


OUTER COURT 

e - — 


BRAZEN 

ALTAR 


The  Church  of  God. 


It  was  this  presence  that  made  the  naos,  or  inmost 
temple,  the  holiest  of  all. 

Then  the  Church  of  God  is  based  on  the  idea  of 
separation.  In  connection  with  the  Tabernacle  was 
a  people,  separate  from  all  the  nations  round  about 
them,  and  drawn  into  immediate  fellowship  with 
God ;  separated  from  the  world,  separated  unto 
God. 

The  Church  is  a  society.  All  the  tribes  systemat¬ 
ically,  by  Divine  arrangement,  encamped  round 
about  the  Tabernacle,  and  in  the  march  moved  with 
it  in  the  midst  of  them,  all  the  tribes  with  their 
standards  arranged  about  the  ark  of  God. 

The  Church  is  ordained  for  service.  In  the  holy 
place  we  have  exactly  the  three  forms  of  service 
typified.  There  was  the  table  of  shewbread,  repre¬ 
senting  the  offering  of  substance  systematically  and 
statedly  to  the  Lord.  “Upon  the  first  day  of  the 
week  let  every  one  of  you  lay  by  him,  in  store,  as 
God  hath  prospered  him,  that  there  be  no  gatherings 
when  I  come’’ — that  there  may  be  meat  in  God’s 
house.  There  was  the  golden  candlestick,  represent¬ 
ing  the  witness  of  the  Church.  “Ye  are  the  light 
of  the  world” — shedding  light  in  the  midst  of  dark- 
fiess,  and  dispersing  the  darkness.  In  the  golden 
altar  of  incense  we  have  a  typical  representation  of 
prayer — “Supplications  and  intercessions  for  all 
men,”  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  There 
are  no  other  forms  of  service,  even  as  there  were 
none  other  articles  of  furniture  in  the  holy  place. 

103 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


Is  it  not  at  least  very  Suggestive  that  in  the  Taber¬ 
nacle  these  three  forms  of  service  should  be  thus 
typified  and  illustrated  by  the  table  of  shewbread, 
the  golden  candlestick,  and  the  golden  altar  of  in¬ 
cense  ? 

The  Church  is  organized  for  spiritual  worship. 
Was  ever  anything  erected  among  men  that  sug¬ 
gested  the  idea  of  worship  better  than  the  Taber¬ 
nacle?  Any  approach  with  irreverence  was  profa¬ 
nation.  Any  intrusion,  except  by  God’s  order,  was 
liable  to  the  death  penalty.  Worship  bathed  the 
whole  Tabernacle  and  all  its  services  in  its  Divine 
light,  and  made  it  fragrant  with  a  holy,  celestial 
aroma. 

Witness  is  one  great  purpose  for  which  the 
Church  is  in  the  world.  In  the  front  court  were 
two  articles  of  furniture:  the  brazen  altar,  repre¬ 
senting  atonement,  and  the  laver,  representing  re¬ 
generation  by  the  Spirit  and  by  the  Word — the 
“washing  of  regeneration  and  renewing  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,”  “the  washing  of  water  by  the  Word.” 
What  is  the  witness  of  the  Church  but,  first  of  all, 
to  the  Atoning  Blood,  to  the  person  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  and  His  great  work;  and,  second,  to 
the  work  of  the  Inspired  Word  in  the  cleansing  of 
the  life,  and  to  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the 
regeneration  of  character? 

It  is  thus  remarkable  that  everything  vital  to  the 
Church  is  expressed  in  this  typical  structure — wit¬ 
ness  to  the  Blood,  the  Word,  and  the  Spirit;  service 

104 


The  Church  of  God. 


in  the  offering  of  substance,  in  the  witness  of  expe¬ 
rience,  in  the  offering  up  of  prayer  and  supplica¬ 
tions;  the  presiding  presence  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
typified  by  the  Shekinah  fire  in  the  holiest  place  of 
all;  separation  from  the  world  unto  God,  and  a  so¬ 
ciety  of  believers. 

With  two  passages  of  Scripture  we  close :  “Thou 
art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  will  I  build  My 
church,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against 
it”  (Matt.  xvi:i8). 

“The  house  of  God,  which  is  the  church  of  the 
living  God,  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth.  And 
without  controversy  great  is  the  mystery  of  godli¬ 
ness.  God  was  manifest  in  the  flesh,  justified  in  the 
spirit,  seen  of  angels,  preached  unto  tne  Gentiles, 
believed  on  in  the  world,  received  up  into  glory” 
(i  Tim.  iii : 1 5,  16). 

Of  these  two  passages,  the  first  is  one  of  the 
most  important;  and  the  second  is  one  of  the  least 
understood,  in  the  Word  of  God. 

“Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  will  I  build 
My  Church.” 

Did  Christ  build  His  Church  on  Peter?  He  had 
a  very  unstable  foundation,  if  He  did.  No,  He  did 
not  build  His  church  on  Peter’s  personality,  but  on 
Peter’s  confession.  He  had  declared,  “Thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God,”  and  our  Lord 
said  to  him,  “Flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  it 
unto  thee,  but  My  Father  which  is  in  heaven.”  And 
then  He  added:  “Thou  art  Petros — a  fragment  of 

105 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


rock — and  upon  this  petra — the  bed-rock — will  I 
build  My  Church.”  Peter  himself  was  built  on  this 
rock,  he  was  like  a  fragment  of  it.  But  the  great 
bed-rock  underneath  Peter  was  the  confession  of 
Jesus  Christ  as  the  Son  of  God.  Our  Lord  there¬ 
fore  said:  “Upon  this  confession  I  will  build  My 
church,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against 
it.”  Historically  this  was  true,  for  when  the  Eunuch 
asked,  “Why  cannot  I  be  baptized?”  Philip  said: 
“If  thou  believest  with  all  thine  heart,  thou  mayest;” 
and  he  said:  “I  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son 
of  God.”  “No  man  speaking  by  the  Spirit  of  God 
calleth  Jesus  accursed;  and  no  man  can  say  that 
Jesus  is  the  Lord  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost”  (i  Cor. 
xii:3).  There  is  the  Spirit-awakened  and  Spirit- 
inspired  confession.  Paul  gives  the  substance  of  this 
same  confession  of  faith  in  Rom.  x:g,  where  he 
says:  “If  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth  the 
Lord  Jesus,  and  shalt  believe  in  thine  heart  that  God 
hath  raised  Him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved” 
(compare  i  John  iv:i5).  Here,  then,  is  the  doctri¬ 
nal  basis — the  rock-confession  on  which  the  Church 
of  Christ  is  built.  That  has  been  the  great  credal- 
confession  of  the  ages,  the  substance  of  all  true 
creeds. 

Against  the  Church,  thus  founded,  “the  gates  of 
hell  shall  not  prevail.” 

What  are  the  gates  of  hell  ?  The  metaphor  sug¬ 
gests  a  city  of  God,  a  great  fortress,  built  on  the 
Eternal  Rock,  on  the  one  hand;  and  another  city, 

106 


The  Church  of  God. 


a  Babel  of  Hades,  built  on  the  other  side  over 
against  it.  From  these  gates  of  hell  throng  the 
myriad  hosts  of  the  devil  to  assault  the  Church. 
But  it  stands  firm,  because  built  upon  the  Rock  of 
this  confession:  “Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of 
God.”  But,  if  the  Church  forsakes  that  Rock,  it 
has  no  right  to  live,  and  no  power  to  prevail.  It 
has  the  promise  of  stability  and  victory  only  while 
it  stands  on  the  basis  of  this  confession  of  Jesus  as 
Christ — Messiah,  and  Jehovah — Lord,  or  Sovereign. 
The  moment  that  the  Church  abandons  that  doc¬ 
trine  it  ceases  to  be  a  true  Body  of  Christ,  and  has 
no  right  to  expect  stability,  permanency  or  victory. 

The  other  passage  may  be  punctuated  a  little  dif¬ 
ferently,  as  it  doubtless  ought  to  be:  “That  thou 
mayest  know  how  thou  oughtest  to  behave  thyself 
in  the  house  of  God,  which  is  the  Church  of  the 
living  God.  The  pillar  and  pedestal  of  the  truth, 
and,  beyond  controversy  great,  is  the  mystery  of 
godliness” — the  Incarnation — “God  was  manifest  in 
the  flesh,  justified — proven  to  be  God — by  the  Spirit, 
seen  of  angels” — angels  had  never  seen  God  in  any 
outward  form,  until,  incarnate,  He  was  revealed  to 
them,  as  well  as  to  man — “preached  among  the  Gen¬ 
tiles,  believed  on  in  the  world,  received  up  into 
glory.” 

Here  is  the  house  of  the  living  God,  that  is,  the 
Church.  But,  in  that  house  stands  one  great  central 
pillar,  which  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation ;  as 
the  central  pillar  reaches  down  to  earth,  Christ's 

107 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


humanity  touches  earth;  and  as  the  pillar  reaches 
upward  to  the  roof,  His  Divinity  reaches  toward  and 
touches  heaven.  The  Incarnate  Son  of  God  and 
Son  of  Man  is  the  pillar  about  which  the  whole 
Church  is  built — to  remove  that  pillar  is  to  bring 
the  Church  down,  like  Dagon’s  temple,  when  Sam¬ 
son  lifted  the  pillars  from  their  base. 

Once  more,  the  only  hope  of  the  conquest  of  a 
sinning  and  suffering  world  for  Christ  is  by  stand- 
ing  by  the  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation,  and  of  vicari¬ 
ous  atonement.  May  our  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof 
of  the  mouth,  and  the  right  hand  forget  her  cunning, 
before  tongue  or  pen  utters  or  writes  a  word  against 
the  Incarnation,  Deity,  and  Blood  Atonement  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ! 

How  little  do  we  know  what  the  power  of  the 
Gospel  is!  The  Rev.  Edward  Payson  Scott,  a  mis¬ 
sionary  in  India— fired  with  passion  for  souls — re¬ 
solved  to  carry  the  Gospel  among  a  fierce  and  sav¬ 
age  tribe  living  in  the  mountains — the  Nagas.  He 
had  learned  a  little  of  their  language,  and  yearned 
to  talk  about  the  things  of  God  to  those  wild  people. 
He  was  warned  by  the  British  resident  officer  that 
he  must  not  go,  unattended  by  a  military  escort. 
“But,”  he  said,  “that  would  misinterpret  the  object 
with  which  I  am  going,  as  a  messenger  of  peace. 
If  they  saw  soldiers  coming  with  me,  they  would  say, 
‘This  means  a  warlike  British  assault.”  No,  I  will 
go  only  with  a  native.”  They  came  to  the  bottom  of 
a  mountain,  on  the  top  of  which  stood  this  tribal 

108 


The  Church  of  God. 


village.  As  the  people  saw  them  coming  they  hast¬ 
ened  down  the  mountainside  and  formed  in  battle 
line  with  their  weapons.  The  chief  shouted  out, 
“Back!  back !  We  know  who  you  are.  You  are  the 
spies  of  the  British,  and  have  come  to  take  us  cap¬ 
tive  and  sell  our  children  into  slavery !”  Mr.  Scott 
took  out  his  violin  and  began  singing  in  the  Naga 
language : 

“Alas !  and  did  my  Saviour  bleed  ? 

And  did  my  Sovereign  die? 

Would  He  devote  the  sacred  head 
For  such  a  worm  as  I  ?” 

Down  went  the  spears  in  the  dust,  and  that  wild 
tribe  drew  nearer  and  nearer,  their  chief  at  their 
head.  Mr.  Scott  went  on  singing: 

“Was  it  for  crimes  that  I  had  done 
He  groaned  upon  the  tree  ? 

Amazing  pity,  grace  unknown. 

And  love  beyond  degree !” 

Before  he  finished  that  hymn  they  were  crouched 
around  him,  their  weapons  thrown  aside,  and  the 
chief  said:  “Where  did  you  learn  that  song?  We 
never  heard  the  like  of  that  before.  Won’t  you  come 
and  stay  among  us,  and  sing  that  song  for  us  again  ?” 
Within  half  an  hour  the  savage  tribe  was  melted 
and  subdued,  and  Mr.  Scott  was  enjoying  their  rich¬ 
est  hospitality  in  their  best  homes,  and  making  prep¬ 
aration  to  send  a  permanent  teacher  to  evangelize 
them. 


109 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Problem  of  the  Individual  Man. 

To  ascertain  what  Scripture  teaches  upon  the 
nature  of  man,  we  must  resort  to  a  careful  compari¬ 
son  of  passages,  of  which  the  following  are  but  a 
few: 

“The  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the 
ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath 
of  life;  and  man  became  a  living  soul.”  Genesis 
ii  :y. 

“The  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the 
Spirit  of  God;  for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him: 
neither  can  he  know  them ,  because  they  are  spiri¬ 
tually  discerned. 

But  he  that  is  spiritual  judgeth  all  things.”  I 
Corinth,  ii  114,  15. 

“There  is  a  natural  body  and  there  is  a  spiritual 
body.”  1  Corinth.  xv:44. 

“Piercing  even  to  the  dividing  asunder  of  soul 
and  spirit.”  Hebrew  iv:i2. 

“The  very  God  of  peace  sanctify  you  wholly; 
and  I  pray  God  your  whole  spirit  and  soul  and  body 
be  preserved  blameless  unto  the  coming  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.”  1  Thess.  v  -.23. 

The  Biblical  teaching  upon  this  theme  is  not,  to 
the  cursory  reader,  so  obvious  and  unmistakable 
as  upon  many  others.  It  belongs  rather  among  the 

no 


The  Problem  of  Man. 


*»• 


mysteries — those  hidden  truths,  unveiled  only  by 
more  careful  search,  collating  and  comparing  scat¬ 
tered  hints,  and  so  constructing  as  out  of  fragments 
one  comprehensive,  consistent  whole. 

The  Scripture  “classic”  upon  the  constitution  of 
man  is  the  last  text,  quoted  above,  where  a  three¬ 
fold  nature  is  represented  as  being  combined  in 
him — spirit,  soul  and  body.  It  is  true  that  the  epis¬ 
tles,  in  which  these  distinctions  appear  so  distinctly 
drawn,  were  not  written,  or  meant  to  be  read,  as 
psychological  essays  or  treatises  on  the  complex 
constitution  of  man ;  and  even  inspired  language 
may  be  unduly  analyzed  and  emphasized,  reading 
into  it  a  scientific  or  philosophic  meaning  not  legi¬ 
timately  contained  therein.  It  still  remains  true, 
however,  that  many  devout  students,  holding  to  the 
plenary  inspiration  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  be¬ 
lieving  that  nothing  in  its  utterances  is  accidental, 
have  been  wont  to  find,  in  the  distinction  thus 
drawn,  and  in  all  Paul’s  writings  maintained,  a  key 
to  many  perplexities. 

The  words,  quoted  from  this  first  letter  to  the 
Thessalonians,  are  very  clear  and  explicit.  “I  pray 
God  your  whole  spirit  and  soul  and  body  be  pre¬ 
served  blameless.” 

In  the  other  texts,  quoted  from  the  Epistles,  the 
distinction  between  soul  and  spirit,  and  between 
the  “natural”  or  psychical,  and  the  “spiritual,”  is 
not  only  preserved,  but  assumed  as  based  upon  set¬ 
tled  facts. 


hi 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


The  Lord  Bishop  of  Derry,  in  commenting  on 
this  passage  in  Thessalonians,  says,  “Body,  material 
organization;  Soul,  sensitive  faculty  (Luke  xii:20, 
Matt.  x:39,  xvL.25,  26,  1  Thess.  ii:8),  would  seem 
to  stand  for  the  ‘animal,  sentient  life/  conceived  of 
as  indissolubly  connected  with  breath  (Jerem.  xv:9). 
Spirit  is  the  superior  faculty,  capable  of  Divine 
communications,  which  man  lost  at  the  fall,  but  re¬ 
covers  again  in  his  regeneration.  The  apostle 
would  thus  speak  of  the  sensitive  mortal  soul;  of 
the  immortal  spirit  of  new  life  and  higher  reason; 
and  of  the  body,  the  seat  of  both.  .  .  .  The 

one  key  to  his  meaning  is  the  principle  that,  be¬ 
sides  body  and  soul — which  make  up  man’s  natural 
being — regenerated  man  possesses  spirit,  the  princl-' 
pie  of  supernatural  life.  It  was  a  long  ascent  from 
the  conception  of  body  and  soul  to  that  of  body, 
soul  and  spirit.”* 

Canon  Fausset  likewise  regards  this  prayer  of 
Paul  as  directed  toward  an  entire  sanctification, 
specifying  all  the  integral  parts  of  man’s  triune 
being.  "All  three — spirit,  soul  and  body — each  in 
its  place  constitute  man  ‘entire.’  The  spirit  links 
man  with  higher  intelligence,  and  is  that  highest 
part,  receptive  to  the  quickening  Holy  Spirit  (1 
Cor.  xv :  47).  The  soul  is  intermediate  between 
body  and  spirit;  it  is  the  sphere  of  the  will  and 
affections.  In  the  unspiritual  man,  the  spirit  is  so 

#  4 .  m  -~i  —  ■  — — 

♦See  Bible  Commentary,  in  locis. 

112 


The  Problem  of  Man. 


sunk  under  the  animal  soul,  which  it  ought  to  keep 
under,  and  bring  into  subjection,  that  such  men  are 
‘animal/  ‘sensual/  having  not  spirit  (Jude  19),  re¬ 
taining  merely  the  body  of  organized  matter,  and  the 
soul,  the  immaterial  animating  essence.”  Compare 
1  Cor.  ii:14,  xv:44-48,  John  iii:6.  If  so,  the  un¬ 
believer  will  be  raised  from  the  dead,  with  an  ani¬ 
mal  soul,  an  animated  body,  but  not  like  the  believer 
with  a  spiritual,  spirit  endowed  and  endued  body — 
like  unto  Christ’s  (Rom.  viii :  1 1 ) . 

With  this  conception  of  man’s  three-fold  nature, 
many  other  passages  of  Scripture  acquire  new  sig¬ 
nificance.  In  the  earliest  account  of  man’s  creation, 
we  get  a  hint  of  this  complexity.  Moses  uses  three 
Hebrew  words,  which  seem  to  correspond  to  body, 
soul  and  spirit,  or  at  least  suggest  a  three-fold 
division  (gahphar,  nehphesh,  n’shahmah). 

“The  dust  of  the  ground”  clearly  represents  the 
body,  and  that  mysterious  Hebrew  expression, 
“breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  lives  ”  may 
well  consist  with  the  impartation  to  man  of  a  double 
endowment — a  soul  life,  in  common  with  other 
living  creatures,  and  a  spirit  life  shared  by  none  of 
the  lower  creation.  Spirit  is  evidently  that  crown¬ 
ing  part  of  man’s  nature  which  fits  him  for  both  a 
higher  revelation  of  God  and  communication  with 
Him — a  faculty  either  practically  lost,  or  so  dark¬ 
ened  and  degraded  by  the  fall,  as  to  be  like  a  blinded 
eye.  If  this  be  a  true  distinction,  there  are  at  once  a 
hundred  doors  of  mystery,  both  in  the  structure  of 

1 13 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

the  Word  of  God  and  in  the  temple  of  Humanity, 
that  are  both  unlocked  and  thrown  wide  open.  So 
important  and  far  reaching  do  these  teachings  of 
Scripture  appear  that  they  afford  a  complete  guide 
in  the  study  of  man  as  an  individual,  revealing  at 
once  his  perils  and  his  needs. 

One  of  the  confirmatory  indirect  proofs  of  this 
Biblical  psychology  is  found,  for  instance,  in  the 
frequent  addresses  of  the  Psalmist  to  his  “soul.” 

“Why  are  thou  cast  down  O  my  soul”  (xlii  15,  11, 
xliii  :5). 

“My  soul,  wait  thou  only  upon  God”  (lxii:5). 

“Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul”  (ciii:i,  2,  22,  civ:i- 

35)- 

“Return  unto  thy  rest,  O  my  soul”  (cxvi:7). 

“Praise  the  Lord,  O  my  soul”  (cxlvi  :i). 

Here  the  higher  self  addresses  the  lower  self,  re¬ 
buking,  or  exhorting  and  commanding  it.  This  is 
the  most  natural  construction  and  is  often  suggested 
elsewhere. 

In  Romans  vii  Paul  plainly  represents  the  fact, 
that,  not  only  in  his  body  but  in  his  mind,  is  found 
a  law,  or  tendency,  to  which  his  higher  self  or  spiri- 
tual  Ego,  is  oppdsed. 

“The  things  that  I  would  I  do  not  and  the  evil 
that  I  would  not  that  I  do.  Wherefore,  it  is  no 
more  I  that  do  it,”  etc. 

Here  more  plainly,  perhaps,  than  in  any  other 
one  place  in  Scripture,  do  we  see  the  somewhat 

114 


The  Problem  of  Man. 


contrary  and  inharmonious  working  of  the  three 
different  natures — the  enlightened,  regenerate- 
spirit  opposed  to  the  soul  and  body  in  their  lower 
tendencies.  Similarly  in  I  Cor.  iv:i-4,  when  Paul 
represents  himself  as  sitting  in  judgment  on  him¬ 
self — the  higher  nature  arraigning  the  lower  as  be¬ 
fore  a  supreme  tribunal. 

This  conception  of  the  three-fold  constitution  of 
man  gives  new  meaning  to  Paul’s  three  prominent 
adjectives,  “earthy,”  “natural,”  “spiritual” —  the  first 
suggests  man’s  material  part,  his  body;  the  second, 
psychical,  or  soulish,  his  soul ;  the  last,  his  spirit,  or 
pneuma.  Our  Lord,  in  departing,  said:  “Father, 
into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit?’  and  Stephen, 
“Lord  Jesus  receive  my  spirit” — in  both  cases,  this 
word  being  discriminatingly  used. 

The  other  three  words  in  I  Cor.  ii,  “carnal,”  “nat¬ 
ural,”  “spiritual,”  suggest  the  same  three-fold  na¬ 
ture — the  carnal  refers  to  the  flesh,  the  natural  to 
the  psychical,  and  the  spiritual  to  the  highest  ele¬ 
ments  of  man’s  being  as  divinely  illumined.  Paul 
was  constantly  meeting  even  disciples,  who  were  too 
much  controlled  by  the  flesh  and  its  lusts,  as  when 
one  is  gluttonous  or  greedy,  envious  or  boastful; 
others  who  were  unduly  controlled  by  the  mere  in¬ 
tellect,  proud  of  learning,  wise  in  their  own  conceit ; 
and  others  who  were  as  plainly  ruled  by  the  Spirit 
of  God  and  responsive  in  spirit  to  His  leading  and 
teaching.  Upon  the  basis  of  this  three-fold  nature 

115 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

of  man  many  of  his  rebukes  and  exhortations  are 
founded. 

This  is  by  no  means,  therefore,  a  merely  specula¬ 
tive,  metaphysical  and  trifling  matter.  It  concerns 
a  proper  understanding  not  only  of  man’s  being 
but  of  his  relation  to  God  and  his  need  of  the  Re¬ 
generating  Spirit. 

In  Diagram  VI,  this  tripartite  being  of  man  is 
represented  as  a  structure,  in  which  the  body  is 
lowermost,  the  spirit  is  uppermost,  and  the  soul  in¬ 
termediate.  The  body  rests  upon  the  earth  of  which 
it  is  composed ;  the  soul  is  next  above  the  body,  as 
its  animating  principle  and  intelligence,  using 
the  bodily  senses  as  its  agents  in  the  exploration  of 
the  phenomena  of  matter,  and  the  bodily  organs 
and  faculties  for  its  self-expression  and  communion 
with  the  outside  world.  The  spirit  receives  impres¬ 
sions  of  outward  and  material  things,  through  the 
soul  and  body,  but  it  belongs  itself  to  a  higher  level 
and  realm,  and  is  capable  of  a  direct  knowledge  of 
God  by  revelation  to  its  own  higher  senses  and  fac¬ 
ulties.  In  an  unfallen  state,  it  was  like  a  lofty  ob¬ 
servatory,  with  an  outlook  upon  a  celestial  firma¬ 
ment.  Sin  closed  all  the  windows  and  darkened  all 
the  chambers  of  the  spirit,  and  it  became  'as  a  Death 
chamber,  until  the  Lord  once  more  breathed  into  this 
chamber  of  Death  His  own  life-giving  Spirit,  and 
once  more  flooded  it  with  divine  illumination  and 
pervaded  it  with  vitality. 

The  second  chapter  of  First  Corinthians  is  be- 

116 


01  reel 
Light  fra 


g*,. 

Goo 

and 

Spiritual 

Things 
Dividing  Asunder 


Knowledge 

World 

Without 

W?th\n 

\ 

Carnal 


SPIRIT. 

Spiritual  insight 
Worship 
Faith 
Hope 
Love  _ 
Fellowships 

R**aon 

Sensibility 
Conscience 

.Morel 

SOUL, 

Mental  visco 

Perception 

Conception 

Analysis 

Imagination 

Memory 

Reflection 

Natural  Affection, 


OF  SOUL  AND  SPIRIT. 


Dividing  Asunder. 


of  Body  and  Soul 


Physical  Perception 

BODY. 


Hearing 

ear 

GATE 


Taste 


Touch 

feel 

gate 


The  Problem  of  Man. 


yond  understanding  or  explanation  unless  this  three¬ 
fold  nature  of  man  supplies  the  key;  for  here  are 
represented  two  wholly  distinct  modes  of  knowing 
and  apprehending  truth.  There  is  the  whole  vast 
sphere  of  intellectual  truth,  possible  of  exploration 
when  the  mind  can  use  the  bodily  eyes  and  ears, 
and  then  combine  and  rearrange  sense  impressions 
by  the  memory,  imagination  and  reason ;  but  we  are 
plainly  told  that  even  “the  princes  of  this  world”— 
the  highest  scholars  and  philosophers — did  not  and 
could  not  know  these  things  which  demand  a  higher 
capacity,  a  verifying  faculty  of  a  higher  order.  Eye 
hath  not  seen  nor  ear  heard,  nor  heart  conceived 
what  is  only  revealed  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  and 
even  He  can  successfully  address  spiritual  truths 
Only  to  spiritual  faculties. 

The  complex  constitution  of  man  presents  then 
three  separate  yet  connected  realms  of  being:  body, 
soul  and  spirit — or  the  physical,  psychical  and  pneu- 
matical  or  spiritual. 

The  Body  has  its  senses,  or  means  of  communica¬ 
tion  with  the  external,  material  world.  These  are 
usually  reckoned  as  five — sight,  hearing,  taste, 
touch  and  smell,  or  as  Bunyan  represents  them,  as 
the  five  gates  to  the  city  of  Mansoul.  Later  re¬ 
search  seems  to  demand  two  other  senses,  the  “mus¬ 
cular”  sense,  whereby  we  perceive  dimension  and 
distance  and  weight;  and  the  “magnetic”  sense, 
whereby  we  both  impart  and  receive  impressions  in 
a  subtle  way,  defying  analysis,  yet  perceptible  and 

it  7 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

even  measurable  by  delicate  instruments,  and  which 
seems  to  find  its  special  field  of  manifestation  within 
a  radius  of  about  ten  feet  from  each  individual. 

Above  this  physical  department,  is  the  psychical, 
the  soul-nature,  where  mental  processes  are  carried 
on,  with  the  will  and  the  affections.  The  soul  is  shut 
in  a  dark  chamber.  It  cannot  explore  external  na¬ 
ture,  except  through  the  bodily  organs  and  senses. 
We  may  think  of  it  as  coming  down  to  the  lower 
level,  to  go  out  through  these  sense  gates  for  pur¬ 
poses  of  exploration  and  observation;  then,  as  re¬ 
turning  to  its  secret  chambers  for  the  elaboration  of 
sense  impressions.  There  is  first  a  mental  percep¬ 
tion,  corresponding  to  the  sense-perception  and  in¬ 
separable  from  it.  Then  on  the  basis  of  this,  a  men¬ 
tal  concept  —  a  notion,  image  or  idea  of  things  as 
gathered  from  sense.  Then,  as  imagination  forms 
and  memory  retains  such  mental  images,  the  think¬ 
ing  powers  are  able  to  carry  on  the  process  of  classi¬ 
fication;  separating  and  combining;  analysis  and 
synthesis;  and  ratiocination  follows — reason,  by  de¬ 
ductive  and  inductive  methods,  reaching  conclusions. 

It  will  appear  how  dependent  the  psychical  nature 
is  upon  the  physical.  Were  the  soul  entirely  shut  in 
by  the  closing  of  every  sense  gate,  it  is  impossible 
to  see  how  any  correct  impression  of  the  external 
world  would  be  obtained,  or  even  the  knowledge  of 
its  existence.  It  is  also  clear  that  what  we  call  new 
conceptions,  original  ideas,  are  only  new  combina¬ 
tions  of  impressions  got  from  observation  of  the 

118 


The  Problem  of  Man, 


universe,  as  a  poet’s  imagination  may  combine  in  new 
forms  images  first  found  in  nature. 

When  we  reach  that  highest  realm  of  spirit ,  how¬ 
ever,  we  touch  a  part  of  man’s  being  which  was 
meant  to  explore  the  unseen  world  and  the  realm 
of  immaterial  and  spiritual  realities.  It  had  capaci¬ 
ties,  at  man’s  original  creation,  that  are  as  far  be¬ 
yond  the  bodily  senses  as  the  miscropic  and  telescop¬ 
ic  vision  surpass  the  unaided  power  of  the  eye.  Had 
man  remained  innocent  of  evil  and  loyal  to  God,  he 
would  have  had  open  doors  of  access  to  heavenly 
chambers  of  mystery.  But  sin  closed  all  these  gates 
and  windows  of  the  spirit  and  darkened  and  blinded 
the  spirit’s  faculties ;  so  that  all  conceptions  of  higher 
verities  became  dependent  upon  physical  observation 
through  the  senses,  and  psychical  processes  of  reas¬ 
oning.  This  we  take  to  be  the  real  teaching  of  such 
marvellous  chapters  as  ist  Corinthians  ii. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  soul  and  spirit 
have  also  their  “senses,”  faculties  which  correspond 
to  the  organs  of  sense,  and  are  adapted  to  the  mental 
and  spiritual  nature.  /Paul  refers  to  these,  when  he 
writes  of  disciples  “of  full  age”  who  by  reason  of 
habitual  “use  have  their  senses  exercised  to  discern 
good  and  evil”  (Heb.  v:i4).  Evidently  these  senses 
referred  to  here,  which  discern  moral  qualities,  be¬ 
long  to  a  higher  order,  and  some  of  them  we  may 
discover.  Imagination  is  the  sense  of  the  unseen; 
Memory,  the  sense  of  the  Past,  and  Hope,  of  the 
Future;  Reason,  the  sense  of  the  true  and  false, 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


and  Conscience,  of  right  and  wrong ;  sensibility  per¬ 
ceives  what  is  repulsive  or  attractive;  and  natural 
affection  is  the  sense  of  kinship,  etc. 

In  the  realm  of  spirit,  there  are  activities  of  a  yet 
higher  grade.  Worship  is  the  sense  of  holy  awe; 
adoration,  of  absorption  in  God;  faith,  the  sense  of 
trust;  love,  of  complacence  in  moral  beauty  and 
response  to  moral  need ;  while  peace  is  the  sense  of 
repose,  and  joy,  of  delight  in  God.  These  are  like 
open  eyes  and  ears,  and  receptive  physical  senses, 
keenly  alive  to  impression,  and  through  them  God 
reveals  Himself  and  His  higher  verities  to  the  obe¬ 
dient  spirit.  Disciples  have  been  conscious  of  an 
illumination  from  Him  which  was  like  a  flood  of 
glory — dazzling  the  vision. 

On  the  diagram  has  been  indicated  the  “dividing 
asunder”  of  body  and  soul,  and  of  soul  and  spirit 
(Heb.  iv:i2) — the  transitions  where  the  different 
departments  of  man’s  being  meet  and  mingle,  which 
is  another  of  the  profound  hints  of  Biblical  psy¬ 
chology.  What  a  mysterious  realm  is  that  where 
body  and  soul  commune- — where  impressions  made 
on  the  physical  senses,  as  sensations,  pass  into 
thought  and  become  mental  images !  and  so  of  that 
yet  higher  experience,  where  the  psychical  passes  in¬ 
to  the  spiritual !  where,  for  example,  the  sight  of  the 
heavens,  having  first  awakened  thought  of  the 
Creator’s  power  and  wisdom,  then  kindles  adoring 

wonder  and  praise !  or  thoughts  of  right  and  wrong 

120 


The  Problem  of  Man. 


having  aroused  the  conscience  and  will,  develop 
holy  resolves  fixed  on  obedience  and  service! 

The  Word  of  God  is  perpetually  seeking  to  lead  us 
on  from  experiences  that  are  at  first  mere  sensa¬ 
tions,  due  to  the  bodily  organs,  to  impressions  and 
convictions  that  lay  hold  of  our  thinking  powers, 
and  finally  bring  the  highest  being  into  accord  with 
God.  It  teaches  also  how  the  soul  life  may  injur¬ 
iously  affect  the  spirit  life — how  thoughts  of  evil, 
lodged  in  the  mind,  become  debasing  to  the  spiritual 
character,  how  hurry  and  worry,  hustle  and  bustle, 
break  up  its  peace  and  trust;  how  envious,  jealous, 
impatient,  ungenerous  thoughts  and  feelings  dull 
and  deaden  the  spirit  to  all  true  sympathy  and  love 
to  men,  and  to  all  visions  and  voices  of  God;  and 
how  to  cherish  right  habits  of  thinking  and  feeling 
pervades  the  spirit  with  consciousness  of  God’s 
presence,  and  unselfish  yearnings  after  service  to 
humanity. 

The  theme  is  inexhaustible;  but  when  once  the 
Biblical  philosophy  of  man’s  three-fold  being  is 
clearly  apprehended,  hundreds  of  otherwise  difficult 
questions  find  answer,  and  perplexing  problems,  a 
solution. 

We  begin  to  understand,  for  example,  how  foolish 
it  is  to  attempt  to  satisfy  man’s  higher  nature  with 
anything  short  of  its  natural,  necessary  food. 

The  Word  of  God  teaches,  as  one  of  the  first  laws 
governing  these  conditions  of  man’s  nature,,  that  he 

121 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life 


must  be  satisfied,  in  each  plane  of  his  being,  only 
with  the  nourishment  suited  to  that  plane. 

Man  has  a  body — that  is  to  say,  is  built  up  of  what 
we  call  earthly  constituents — certain  chemical  ele¬ 
ments,  and  this  constitutes  the  flesh.  And  there  is 
breath — the  air  of  the  atmosphere — within.  Man  is, 
physically,  at  once  solid,  liquid,  and  aerial  or  atmos¬ 
pheric.  As  related  to  the  ground  from  which  he 
springs,  if  he  is  to  keep  the  body  alive,  he  needs 
earthly  food — bread  from  the  earth  because  his  body 
belongs  to  earth.  Every  form  of  life  must  be  nour¬ 
ished  with  food  of  its  sort. 

But  when  we  pass  into  the  sphere  of  reason  and 
thought,  what  is  the  use  of  attempting  to  feed,  sat¬ 
isfy  or  nourish  the  soul  powers,  mind  and  reason, 
with  a  literal  meal?  They  would  scorn  it.  “There 
is  in  my  reason  a  necessity  for  higher 
food;  and  hence  so  many  are  unhappy  in  the 
world  because  they  say,  “Let  us  eat  and 
drink.”  That  is  their  notion  of  satisfaction. 
But,  having  eaten  and  drunk,  they  are  not  satisfied, 
because  God  has  given  them  brain  and  mind  which 
hunger  for  food  as  truly  and  imperatively  as  the 
body  does.  Demosthenes,  in  the  days  of  his  prime, 
said  to  his  fellow-countrymen  in  Athens,  “For  God’s 
sake,  think!”  That  is  to  say,  “You  have  brains. 
Use  them.”  The  mind  needs  nourishment  and 
strength  just  as  much  as  the  body.  A  true  man  feels 
dissatisfied  with  every  day  that  passes  in  which  he 
has  not  assimilated  something  mentally,  and  gained 


122 


The  Problem  of  Man. 

some  new  idea.  A  German  said,  “Give  me  a 
great  thought  that  I  may  feed  upon  it.”  We  cannot 
feed  the  body  with  thoughts,  neither  can  we  feed  the 
mind  with  bread,  or  with  even  the  most  dainty 
viands.  Neither  can  a  man  feed  the  highest  part  of 
his  nature,  spirit,  with  anything  which  is  unfit  for  it. 
We  must  have  something  also  to  satisfy  that.  Where 
is  the  food  to  be  found  but  in  God !  Let  the  unsatis¬ 
fied  heart  of  universal  man  answer. 

The  body  has  its  appropriate  nutriment  and  sus¬ 
tenance — it  is  found  in  air,  and  food ;  and  its  highest 
welfare  is  reached  through  good  physical  habits  of 
exercise  and  cleanliness.  The  soul  has  its  own  sus¬ 
tenance  and  satisfaction :  it  feeds  on  thought,  knowl¬ 
edge,  learning  literature  and  art,  human  enterprise 
and  natural  affection.  But  the  spirit  has  both  higher 
wants  and  capacities ;  and  it  yearns  after  knowledge 
of  God  and  fellowship  with  Him,  verifying  that 
ancient  maxim  of  Augustine:  “Thou,  O  God,  hast 
made  us  for  Thee  and  our  heart  is  restless  till  it 
rests  in  Thee.” 

This  subject  serves  also  to  interpret  man’s  normal 
condition  and  relations.  One  obvious  lesson  in  this 
Biblical  psychology  is  that  God  evidently  designed 
that  the  human  spirit,  indwelt  and  ruled  by  His  Holy 
Spirit,  should  keep  man  in  constant  touch  with  Him¬ 
self,  and  maintain  in  everything  its  proper  pre-emi¬ 
nence,  ruling  soul  and  body.  Whenever  this  divine 
order  is  lost,  through  whatever  cause,  or  upon  what- 

123 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


ever  pretext,  the  true  manhood  falls  into  serious 
degeneracy  if  not  ruin. 

For  example,  in  the  carnal  man,  the  flesh,  the  low¬ 
est  and  most  earthly  part  of  his  being,  reigns  para¬ 
mount.  In  the  natural  man,  or  psychical,  the  animal 
soul  asserts  itself,  subordinating  the  spirit,  sinking 
it  into  subserviency  to  the  mere  intellectual  faculties, 
which  are  essentially  wordly  in  nature,  aim  and 
method.  Men  lean  to  their  own  understanding,  be¬ 
come  wise  in  their  own  conceit,  and  often  despise 
and  blaspheme  God.  In  the  ungodly  the  soul,  neg¬ 
lecting  the  spirit,  and  leaving  it  to  the  living  death 
of  sin,  persists  in  glorifying  intellect  and  its  achieve¬ 
ments. 

In  redemption,  the  three  come  into  their  true  rela¬ 
tion.  In  sanctification  the  human  spirit  is  wedded 
to  the  divine,  and  in  this  holy  union  finds  power  to 
control  the  soul,  and,  through  the  soul,  the  body. 
Even  here,  however,  there  must  be  a  true  proportion. 
If  undue  attention  is  given  to  bringing  the  body  into 
subjection,  and  the  soul  is  neglected,  the  result  is 
ascetic  practice  with  wrong  doctrine.  If  the  soul  is 
unduly  the  object  of  care,  the  creed  may  be  kept 
right,  the  beliefs  and  convictions  guarded,  while  the 
fleshly  appetites  and  passions  still  hold  sway.  But 
when  God  has  His  way  in  us,  and  first  of  all,  the 
spirit  is  in  harmony  with  Him,  and  proper  and  pro¬ 
portionate  heed  is  given  to  the  soul  and  body,  all 
three  are  preserved  blameless,  and  man  may  ap¬ 
proach  very  near  to  a  perfect  life  in  Christ. 

124 


The  Problem  of  Man. 


A  brilliant  writer,  by  a  powerful  use  of  metaphor, 
has  pictured  man’s  state  when  the  whole  of  his  three¬ 
fold  nature  is  in  rebellion  against  God’s  order.  Con¬ 
science,  the  Judge,  bribed  or  silenced  by  clamor; 
the  will,  the  marshal,  leading  its  forces  in  revolt; 
the  imagination,  the  poet  and  artist,  lending  its  pow¬ 
ers  to  evil ;  the  understanding,  the  student,  resorting 
to  curious  arts ;  desire,  the  merchant,  wasting  its 
store  of  affection,  and  gazing  out  into  the  future  in 
search  of  some  home  bound  argosy  of  happiness, 
but  gathering  only  unsatisfying  good — all  these 
powers,  untrue  to  their  allegiance ;  the  ermine,  the 
baton,  the  song,  the  books,  the  merchandise,  at  the 
service  of  a  usurper,  sin. 

When  the  Spin!  renews  the  mind,  these  faculties 
are  restored  to  loyalty  and  reinstated  under  God. 
Then  conscience  seeks  to  give  verdict,  according  to 
the  divine  statute  book,  and  is  habitually  obeyed. 
Then  the  lordly  will  assumes  again  a  lowly  yet  noble 
vassalage.  Then  the  dream  of  the  imagination  is 
transcended  by  a  heavenly  reality.  Then  the  under¬ 
standing  burns  the  magic  books  in  the  market  place, 
and  breaks  the  wand  of  its  curious  arts,  studying 
now  for  eternity  as  well  as  time.  Desire  still  amasses, 
for  man  will  lay  up  treasure,  only  the  treasure  is  no 
longer  on  earth. 

It  is  the  crown  of  such  a  divine  order  that  the 
same  laws  of  our  being  guide  our  spiritual  and  natu¬ 
ral  life:  the  same  self-control  and  watchful  dili¬ 
gence  which  built  up  the  worldly  habits  toward  the 

125 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life, 


summits  of  success  may  be  applied  at  once  to  those 
habits  which  ripen  us  for  heaven.  Regeneration  im¬ 
parting  no  new  faculty,  gives  only  a  new  direction  to 
the  old.* 

Even  this  metaphor  does  imperfect  justice  to  the 
marvels  of  transformation  which  take  place  in  man 
when  God  becoming  the  -center  of  his  being,  all  the 
elements  of  his  complex  personality  wheel  into  the 
orbit  of  allegiance  in  harmony  with  Him  and  with 
each  other. 

The  subject  leads  us  still  further  to  an  understand¬ 
ing  of  both  the  nature  and  need  of  Regeneration. 

The  fall  of  man  left  his  spirit  hopelessly  without 
God  and  without  hope.  It  was  like  a  dismantled 
observatory,  which  some  earthquake  has  wrecked, 
with  its  astronomical  apparatus  for  studying  the 
heavens — nay  more,  it  was  like  the  Holy  of  Holies  in 
Tabernacle  or  Temple,  forsaken  of  the  Divine  Pres¬ 
ence  and  with  the  divine,  uncreated  Shekinah  fire 
quenched,  leaving  it  in  midnight  darkness.  When 
such  was  the  case  in  the  Temple  of  old,  the  only 
light  possible  in  the  inmost  shrine  would  be  such  as 
could  struggle  in  through  the  thick  veil  from  the 
candlestick  burning  in  the  Holy  place,  or  from  the 
court  without,  through  both  veils. 

Indeed  the  whole  structure  of  the  Tabernacle 
(Diagram  VIII)  strikingly  reminds  us  of  the  three¬ 
fold  constitution  of  man.  The  outer  court,  open  to 

♦“Hours  with  the  Mystics,”  II,  231. 

126 


The  Problem  of  Man. 


i he  sky  and  dependent  on  natural  light,  correspond¬ 
ing  to  the  body;  the  inner  court,  without  door  or 
window,  lit  up  only  by  an  artificial  light  of  its  own, 
suggested  the  soul  life,  with  its  lamp  of  intellect ;  the 
inmost  court,  still  more  shut  in,  and  without  illumi¬ 
nation  save  as  God  Himself  shed  there  His  uncreated 
ray,  reminding  of  the  human  spirit. 

After  sin  left  the  spirit  in  the  darkness  of  death, 
its  only  light  was  the  uncertain  and  fallible  ray  of 
man’s  own  thinking  powers,  so  often  misguided  and 
wholly  perverted.  And  Regeneration  is  the  relight¬ 
ing  of  that  quenched  Shekinah  flame.  It  is  the  in¬ 
troduction  of  the  Spirit  of  Life  into  the  Death  cham¬ 
ber,  of  the  Spirit  of  Light  into  the  Death  shade,  of 
the  Spirit  of  Love  where  selfishness  and  hate  had 
reigned.  And  hence  it  is  that  while  from  the  wise 
and  prudent  of  the  world  the  Father  has  withheld 
and  hidden  the  revelation  of  His  higher  truths  He 
has  revealed  them  unto  babes — those  born  again  in 
the  image  of  His  Son  and  endowed  with  the  seeing 
eye.* 

This  also  reveals  to  us  how  it  is  that  when  men 
lean  to  their  own  understanding,  and  depend  upon 
intellectual  discernment,  they  are  often  judicially 
blinded  to  higher  truth. 

No  question  is  more  fundamental  than  whether 
this  Book  is  to  be  regarded  and  treated  as  the  Book 
of  God  or  of  Man;  whether  in  it  we  are  to  see  and 


♦Matthew  XL25-27. 


127 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


recognize  a  supernatural  element .  It  is  often  said 
that  this  is  of  little  consequence  and  is  a  mere  matter 
of  interpretation.  But  interpretation  is  no  small 
matter  when  it  settles  the  whole  authority  of  the  con¬ 
tents  of  Scripture  and  our  consequent  attitude  and 
obligation.  A  naturalistic  and  rationalistic  interpre¬ 
tation  of  its  contents  may  involve  a  practical  denial 
of  its  truth  and  the  binding  character  of  its  teach¬ 
ings.  Christ’s  resurrection  may  be  resolved  into  the 
survival  of  a  holy  influence — spiritualized  into  a 
poem  on  the  undying  character  of  all  self-oblivious 
heroism;  but  what  becomes  of  both  the  credibility 
of  the  gospel  narrative  and  the  Christianity  that  is 
declared  to  be  actually  based  upon  His  literal  rising 
from  the  dead! 

Nothing  can  be  much  more  frivolous  and  profane 
than  the  way  in  which  so-called  modern  “Criticism” 
coolly  disposes  of  all  miraculous  or  supernatural  in¬ 
tervention.  By  the  most  tortuous  methods  of  exe¬ 
gesis  a  plain  narrative  is  wrenched  from  its  obvious 
meaning. 

Take,  for  example,  the  experience  of  Israel  at  the 
Red  Sea  with  its  two  prodigious  marvels,  the  Wall 
of  Waters  and  the  Pillar  of  Cloud. 

We  are  told  that  a  powerful  wind,  driving  down 
the  arm  of  the  Red  Sea,  all  the  night  before,  raised 
the  water  to  an  unusual  height  on  the  southwestern 
side,  exposing  the  shallows  at  the  point  of  crossing. 
This  sounds  plausible  enough ;  but  the  difficulties  of 
this  explanation  are  greater  than  the  supposed  diffi- 

128 


The  Problem  of  Man. 


culties  it  removes.  For  not  only  did  Israel  go  over 
as  on  dry  land,  but  with  the  waters  as  a  wall  on 
both  sides.  A  powerful  east  wind  might  have  caused 
an  ebb  tide  and  reared  the  waters  in  a  mass  to  the 
leeward,  but  the  same  natural  causes  would  prevent 
any  such  accumulation  of  waters  to  the  windward. 
And  again  what  about  the  pursuing  Egyptians  whom 
the  same  wall  of  waters  that  protected  Israel,  over¬ 
whelmed  and  destroyed!  That  must  have  been  a 
lucky  coincidence — the  waters,  held  back  just  long 
enough  for  Israel  to  get  across,  and  then  loosed  from 
their  bonds  just  in  time  to  fall  back  upon  the  pur¬ 
suers. 

Then  as  to  the  Pillar  of  Cloud,  it  is  no  mystery, 
we  are  told,  but  the  signal,  given  on  journeys,  by  the 
smoke  of  the  caravan  fires,  each  company  or  division 
being  marked  by  its  own  standard,  which  at  night 
consisted  of  long  poles,  surmounted  by  small  bea¬ 
cons,  framed  of  iron  hoops  filled  with  combustible 
materials  for  light.  Each  company  had  ten  or 
twelve,  those  of  each  division  having  its  own  definite 
figure  and  shape,  so  that  every  individual  in  the 
caravan  could  find  his  place.  But  this  was  not  only 
a  Pillar  of  Fire  by  night,  but  also  by  day,  a  Pillar  of 
Cloud.  It  possessed  intelligence,  going  before  to 
search  out  a  resting  place,  and  by  its  movements  de¬ 
termining  those  of  God’s  people,  whereas  the  cara¬ 
van’s  movements  rather  determine  those  of  the 
beacon  signal!  And  God’s  Pillar  was  instinct  and 
even  vocal  with  His  Presence !  Its  position,  appear- 

129 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

ance  and  altitude,  all  changing  according  as  the  host 
was  in  camp  or  on  the  march. 

We  are  simply  compelled,  as  believers,  to  accept 
the  Bible  account  as  genuine,  and  concede  God’s 
interposition,  or,  while  eliminating  the  supernatural , 
deny  also  all  historical  accuracy.  We  must  either 
put  nature  and  chance  behind  all  these  phenomena, 
or  else  believe  that  the  God  of  all  Power  was  work¬ 
ing,  using  natural  agencies  to  further  His  own  de¬ 
signs.  Moreover  in  Hebrews  xi  129,  this  passage  of 
the  Red  Sea  is  classed  among  the  victories  of  Faith. 
“By  Faith,  they  passed  through  the  Red  Sea  as  on 
dry  ground, 

Which  the  Egyptians  assaying  to  do  were 
drowned.” 

Here  the  whole  history  is  lifted  to  the  level  of  a 
sublime  experience  of  dealing  with  God!  on  Israel’s 
part  in  faith  and  obedience ;  on  the  part  of  Pharaoh 
and  his  hosts,  in  unbelief  and  rebellion.  In  one  case 
we  have  mere  chance  coincidences — winds  and 
waters  combining  to  save  some  and  drown  others. 
In  the  other  the  God  of  Nature  uses  His  own  cre¬ 
ated  forces  to  accomplish  His  own  purposes. 

If  modem  “Higher  Criticism,”  so-called,  be  taken 
as  a  guide,  a  reductio  ad  absurdum  results  from 
simply  compiling  and  combining  some  of  its  teach¬ 
ings. 

The  story  of  Eden  becomes  a  mere  picture  poem 
to  teach  the  peril  of  disobedience.  Lot  and  Sodom, 
a  myth,  illustrating  the  risks  of  too  close  an  alliance 

130 


The  Problem  of  Man. 


with  the  wicked.  Abram,  at  best  a  head  of  an  an¬ 
cient  clan,  conspicuous  for  his  unselfishness,  purity 
of  life  and  rectitude*  whose  devotion  to  a  tribal  deity 
became  the  foundation  of  a  widespread  popular  wor¬ 
ship.  Jonah  and  the  great  fish  are  a  fable  to  illus¬ 
trate  a  disobedient,  selfish  and  revengeful  spirit,  in 
a  messenger  of  mercy  and  judgment.  The  story  of 
Daniel  and  the  lion’s  den,  an  utterly  untrustworthy 
narrative.  Who  knows  but  he  may  have  been  some 
ancient  lion  tamer  and  the  lion’s  den  a  menagerie! 
Even  the  Resurrection  of  our  Lord  becomes  at  best 
only  a  symbolic  or  figurative  expression  of  the  sur¬ 
vival  of  a  good  man  in  his  influence  over  other  men. 

All  these  and  kindred  errors  can  be  traced  to  their 
unfortunate  fountain  head,  if  we  once  clearly  per¬ 
ceive  how  blindly  a  man  may  be  groping  after  divine 
verities,  while  seeking  knowledge  and  understanding 
of  them  only  by  the  help  of  intellect.  Undertaking 
to  unravel  the  mysteries  of  God  by  the  mere  methods 
of  man,  he  assumes  that  the  Bible  is  to  be  studied 
and  judged  like  any  ordinary  book,  as  mere  litera¬ 
ture  ;  and  that  God  is  like  any  other  author,  and  can 
be  interpreted  by  the  laws  of  authorship  and  the 
methods  of  human  writers.  It  is  taken  for  granted 
that  the  Word  of  God  has  in  it  no  supernatural, 
superhuman  element.  Hence  at  once  prophecy  and 
miracle  are  read  out  of  it,  prediction  becoming 
shrewd,  sagacious  forecast  on  the  basis  of  probabili¬ 
ties,  miracle  becoming  at  most  only  an  occurrence  at 
the  time  inexplicable.  This  is  reasoning  in  a  circle, 

23* 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


like  Hume  the  Deist,  and  Huxley,  the  materialist; 
first  assuming  that  anything  opposed  to  the  “unifor¬ 
mity  of  nature”  and  the  “common  experience  of 
men”  is  impossible  and  incredible,  and  then  as¬ 
suming  prophecy  and  miracle  to  contradict  both,  and 
therefore  fall  into  the  category  of  the  impossible  and 
incredible. 

This  is  like  attempting  to  light  up  the  Holy  of 
Holies  with  man’s  waxtaper,  when  God’s  Shekinah 
fire  no  more  burns  there ;  or  denying  that  there  ever 
was  such  a  divine  flame,  because  man  cannot  make 
his  taper  burn  as  brightly  and  constantly.  Every 
part  of  man’s  being  demands  its  own  light.  Sun¬ 
light  will  do  for  the  body,  but  it  will  not  light  up  the 
mind’s  secret  chambers;  neither  will  mere  intellect, 
however  brilliant,  serve  the  place  and  office  of  that 
uncreated  flame  which  made  the  Burning  Bush  so 
great  a  sight,  and  still  makes  the  heart  of  a  little 
child,  indwelt  by  the  Spirit,  a  presence  chamber  of 
God ! 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  World  That  Now  Is. 

Six  or  seven  texts  of  Scripture  are  selected,  as 
outlining  the  general  treatment  of  the  Word  of  God, 
as  to  this  great  problem  of  the  disciple’s  relation  to 
this  present  world. 

1.  Who  gave  himself  for  our  sins,  that  he  might 
deliver  us  from  this  present  evil  world,  according 
to  the  will  of  God  and  our  Father  (Galatians  i  .-4). 

2.  Love  not  the  world,  neither  the  things  that  are 
in  the  world.  If  any  man  love  the  world,  the  love 
of  the  Father  is  not  in  him.  For  all  that  is  in  the 
world,  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  and  the  lust  of  the  eyes, 
and  the  pride  of  life,  is  not  of  the  Father,  but  is  of 
the  world.  And  the  world  passeth  away,  and  the 
lust  thereof,  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  God 
abideth  for  ever  (1  John  ii :  15-17) . 

3.  Ye  adulterers  and  adulteresses,  know  ye  not  that 
the  friendship  of  the  world  is  enmity  with  God? 
whosoever  therefore  will  be  a  friend  of  the  world 
is  the  enemy  of  God  (James  iv:4). 

4.  And  they  that  use  this  world,  as  not  abusing 
it:  for  the  fashion  of  this  world  passeth  away  (1 
Corinth,  vii  131 ). 

5.  If  the  world  hate  you,  ye  know  that  it  hated 
me  before  it  hated  you.  If  ye  were  of  the  world, 
the  world  would  love  his  own:  but  because  ye  are 

£33 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


i 


not  of  the  world,  but  I  have  chosen  you  out  of  the 
world,  therefore  the  world  hateth  you  (John  xv:i8, 
19). 

6.  I  have  manifested  thy  name  unto  the  men 
which  thou  gavest  me  out  of  the  world.  *  *  *  The 
world  hath  hated  them,  because  they  are  not  of  the 
world,  even  as  I  am  not  of  the  world.  I  pray  not 
that  thou  shouldest  take  them  out  of  the  world, 
but  that  thou  shouldest  keep  them  from  the  evil. 
They  are  not  of  the  world,  even  as  I  am  not  of  the 
world.  *  *  *  As  thou  has  sent  me  into  the  world, 
even  so  have  I  also  sent  them  into  the  world.  *  *  * 
That  they  also  may  be  one  in  us :  that  the  world  may 
believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me  (John  xvii:6,  14-16, 
18,  21). 

7.  We  have  received,  not  the  spirit  of  the  world, 
but  the  spirit  which  is  in  God ;  that  we  might  know 
the  things  that  are  freely  given  to  us  of  God  (1 
Corinth.  ii:i2). 

A  lifetime  of  study  would  not  exhaust  the  les¬ 
sons  contained  in  these  few  sentences.  The  desig¬ 
nation,  “present  evil  world,”  is  significant;  and  so 
important  is  deliverance  from  it  that  it  was  one  of 
the  main  objects  of  our  Lord’s  advent. 

The  love  of  the  world  is  forbidden,  and  so  em¬ 
phatically,  that  he  who  wills  to  be  its  friend  is  God’s 

# 

enemy. 

It  is  conceded  that  there  is  a  legitimate  use  of 
this  world,  but  we  must  beware  of  abusing  it,  by 
forgetting  that  it  is  transient  and  fleeting. 

i34 


The  World  That  Now  Is. 


The  last  discourse  and  Intercessory  prayer  of 
our  Lord  contains  seven  phrases,  which,  with  singu¬ 
lar  completeness  define  the  disciple’s  relation  to  the 
world — chosen  and  given  to  Christ  out  of  the  world , 
sent  back  into  it;  in  it,  but  not  of  it;  hated  by  it,  but 
kept  from  its  evil;  and  constraining  the  world  to 
believe. 

The  characteristic  spirit  of  the  world  is  the  op¬ 
posite  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  hinders  full  knowl¬ 
edge  of  divine  things. 

Such  are  the  broad  border  lines  which  bound  the 
great  territory  of  this  theme,  and  will  determine  its 
present  treatment. 

The  subject  presents  a  peculiar  difficulty  in  the 
fact  that  so  much  contained  and  embraced  in  “the 
world”  is  not  of  itself  sinful,  and  therefore  indul¬ 
gence  in  it  cannot  be ;  the  wrong  lies  in  excess,  mis¬ 
use  and  abuse,  the  perversion  of  what  might  be 
harmless  or  even  beneficial,  if  kept  in  a  right  rela¬ 
tion  to  other  and  higher  interests.  This  fact  de¬ 
mands  corresponding  discrimination  in  treatment. 

Let  us  inquire  what  the  world  is,  has,  and  does . 

I.  What  is  the  world  ? 

Worldliness  and  wickedness  are  by  no  means 
synonymous  or  equivalent  terms.  Nine  words  are 
translated  “world” — five  in  the  Old  Testament  and 
four  in  the  New.  The  latter  four  have  various 
shades  of  meaning,  but  all  may  be  comprised  in 
these :  two  regarding  the  earth  as  a  material  sphere, 
and  habitable  globe;  another,  as  an  exhibition  of 

i35 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


divine  order,  symmetry,  arrangement  and  beauty — 
a  cosmos — the  remaining  word  expresses  the  idea 
of  time;  either  indefinite,  in  contrast  to  eternity,  or 
one’s  own  life-time,  the  brief  span  of  human  exist¬ 
ence.  These  distinctions  might  be  maintained  in 
the  English  version,  by  using  four  simple  phrases: 
matter  world,  created  world,  habited  world,  and 
time  world.  Combining  these  meanings,  the  general 
idea  suggested  by  “the  world”  is:  the  earth  as  the 
habitation  of  man,  with  everything  that  pertains  to 
its  material  beauty,  order  and  symmetrical  arrange¬ 
ment;  but,  in  connection  with  this,  the  notion  of 
that  which  is  fleeting,  passing  away,  perishing. 

A  worldly  life  is  wrong,  not  because  it  is  pro¬ 
fane  or  blasphemous;  or  openly  violates  the  com¬ 
mands  of  the  Decalogue — offending  against  virtue, 
chastity,  truth,  purity;  but  because  it  is  taken  up 
with  things  material  and  temporal.  The  grandest 
thing  about  a  man  is  not  material  at  all,  but  spirit¬ 
ual  ;  not  mortal  and  temporal,  but  eternal,  immortal ; 
and  a  worldly  life  at  best,  is  unworthy  of  him. 

It  has  already  been  said  that  one  word,  trans¬ 
lated  world,  is  “cosmos,”  which  expresses  the  no¬ 
tion  of  order  and  beauty.  Can  it  be  wrong  to  be 
attracted  by  the  cosmical  beauty,  and  symmetry  of 
God’s  universe?  to  dwell  on  the  wonderful  system 
that  prevails  in  the  solar  and  stellar  worlds?  to  be 
absorbed  in  the  study  of  the  wonders  of  nature? 
Of  course  not,  except  so  far  as,  our  attention  being 
attracted  to  these  things,  and  engrossed  by  them, 

*3$ 


•  • 


,  s 


'  ' 


. 

' 

. 

■ 


G>O0 

Good  Spirit* ,  /  \  Evil  Spirits. 

Archangel.  /  \  Archangels-  {?) 

Principalities.  /  \  Principalities 

Powers.  /  Spiritual  \  Powers 

Thrones.  /  \  World  Rulers. 

Dominions.  /  Realm  \  Wicked  Spirit*- 

Authorities.  ^  Higher  order 0/ Senses'^ 

Mystery  0/  Being 

Mind 

Psychic  Pealm. 
Intellectual  Senses 

'  Superseiuwn 

Phenomena, 

Transition 

Mys  tery  0/ Matter 
Invisible  Forces  of  Mature. 

A/umber  / 

Peatm 

Sensible 

Phenomena , 

c/ Senses  2 

of 

Available.  3 

« 

Physical 

+ 

Senses 

6 

The  ladder  0/  J-ife  . 

The  World  That  Now  Is. 


we  forget  that  higher,  spiritual  glory  and  beauty 
of  which  at  best  these  are  only  outward  types. 
Suppose  a  man  to  have  stood  in  the  ancient  taber¬ 
nacle  before  that  veil  that  hid  the  Holy  of  Holies 
from  view ;  to  have  looked  on  the  blue,  the  purple, 
the  scarlet,  and  the  embroidery  of  the  cherubim; 
and,  having  attention  so  taken  up  with  that  material 
curtain,  as  to  have  forgotten  the  Shekinah,  the  Di¬ 
vine  presence,  within !  Not  the  attention  to  the  ma¬ 
terial  and  visible  in  itself,  but  the  neglect  of  the  spir¬ 
itual  and  eternal  constitutes  the  wrong. 

We  have  already  seen,  on  the  charts  representing 
the  constitution  of  man  and  the  universe  (vi,  vii) 
how  the  two  correspond.  There  is  in  man  what  is 
material,  and  what  is  spiritual,  and  a  territory  in¬ 
termediate,  uniting  both — a  dividing  asunder  of 
body  and  soul,  and  again  of  soul  and  spirit  (Heb. 
iv:i2) — where  the  physical  and  the  psychical,  and, 
higher  up,  the  psychical  and  the  spiritual  meet  and 
mingle. 

Exactly  correspondent  is  the  structure  of  the  uni¬ 
verse.  It  has  a  material  and  a  spiritual  realm,  and 
another  that  lies  between,  where  the  visible  and  in¬ 
visible  come  into  contact,  and  matter  touches  spirit. 
The  “Ladder  of  Life”  (vii)  shows,  step  by  step,  the 
ascent  from  the  grossest  forms  of  matter  which  can 
be  tested  by  all  our  senses,  to  those  which  appeal  to 
only  four,  three,  two,  one — like  light  which  can 
be  detected  only  by  vision;  still  further  up  is  the 
realm  of  invisible  forces,  like  gravitation  and  cohe- 

i37 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


sion,  which  pertain  to  matter  and  yet  are  not  them¬ 
selves  material. 

Still  above  is  the  Psychic  Realm — the  realm  of 
supersensuous  phenomena,  like  the  life  principle 
itself,  the  greatest  reality  of  the  created  universe. 
It  manifests  itself  through  material  forms  and  phys¬ 
ical  organs,  yet  is  itself  essentially  invisible  and  in¬ 
tangible;  it  uses  the  senses  and  yet  cannot  be  de¬ 
tected  by  any  of  them,  being  too  subtle  and  evasive, 
yet  universal  and  pervasive. 

The  Word  of  God  reveals,  yet  above  this  psychic¬ 
al  realm,  one  purely  spiritual.  God  Himself  pre¬ 
sides  over  it — the  uncreated  spirit;  and  under  Him 
a  whole  hierarchy  of  spirits,  both  good  and  bad,  in 
apparently  seven  ranks  or  orders,  from  Archangel 
down  to  the  lowest  grade. 

In  this  exact  correspondence,  itself,  between  the 
constitution  of  man  and  of  the  universe,  lies  the 
great  lesson  God  would  teach.  Each  is  the  exact 
counterpart  of  the  other  and  hints  mutual  adapta¬ 
tion.  The  bodily  senses  are,  as  Bunyan  called  them, 
the  five  gates  of  Mansoul,  both  for  ingress  and 
egress.  They  are  channels  of  communication  be¬ 
tween  man  and  the  material  universe.  Between  the 
psychic  department  of  man’s  being  and  the  like 
realm  of  creation  there  is  also  a  connection :  the  in¬ 
visible  forces  of  his  nature  correspond  to  the  sphere 
of  life  and  subtle  intangible  agencies  outside  of  him, 
while  his  highest  spiritual  entity  has  its  counterpart 

138 


The  World  That  Now  Is. 


in  that  lofty  realm  of  spiritual  being  where  God 
dwells  sovereign  over  vast  hosts  of  spirits. 

Not  only  so,  but  man  was  meant  to  commune 
with  these  higher  realms  of  the  universe  and  has 
faculties  and  powers  which  are  to  soul  and  spirit 
what  senses  are  to  the  body.  And  because  both  in 
man  and  in  the  universe  these  invisible  realms  are 
higher  and  grander  than  the  lower,  it  is  plain  that 
they  should  have  his  supreme  thought  and  attention. 
This  is  a  natural  inference  from  the  very  nature  of 
things ;  but  it  is  enforced  tremendously  by  the  spir¬ 
itual  motives  which  the  Word  of  God  inspires.  Here 
the  true  character  and  importance  of  the  spiritual 
world  is  unveiled  for  the  first  time.  Man  is  taught 
that  he  was  originally  an  offshoot  from  the  central 
Life  of  the  universe — not  simply  an  animal,  how¬ 
ever  exalted  in  rank,  but  made  in  the  image  of  God, 
and  that  he  was  made  and  meant  to  know  God,  and 
commune  with  Him ;  that  this  upper  chamber  of  his 
being,  darkened  by  sin,  is  capable  of  becoming  a 
holy  of  holies,  where  the  uncreated  Life  of  God 
burns  and  shines,  and  of  receiving  light  from  Him 
who  is  Light. 

To  engross  himself  in  that  which  is  material  is 
therefore  to  neglect  the  higher  realm  of  the  uni¬ 
verse,  and  starve  his  own  higher  nature.  It  is  to 
make  the  visible  and  temporal  order  an  idol  and 
substitute  it  for  the  worship  of  Deity.  It  is  to  give 
all  heed  to  the  life  that  perishes  and  none  to  the 
undying  life  beyond.  To  state  this  course  is  to 

139 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


expose  its  unspeakable  folly,  wrong  and  crime.  It 
is  the  disaster  which  this  brings  about,  of  which  our 
Lord  says  that  the  fool’s  house  “fell — and  great 
was  the  fall  of  it.” 

The  “world,”  then,  is,  in  the  Bible  sense,  material, 
visible,  temporal.  While  man  belongs  to  a  temporal 
order,  he  also  belongs  to  the  spiritual  and  eternal, 
his  better  part  being  immaterial  and  invisible.  While 
the  world  passeth  away,  he  abides  forever.  We 
have  only  to  put  these  two  great  classes  of  facts  in 
opposition,  to  see  why  this  existing  order  is  called 
“the  present  evil  world.” 

II.  What  has  the  world  ?  It  is  briefly  summed  up 
in  that  message  of  John — “All  that  is  in  the  world, 
the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the 
pride  of  life.” 

These  “lusts,”  or  carnal  cravings,  characterize 
and  often  control  man :  appetite,  avarice  and  ambi¬ 
tion.  And  here  all  three  are  referred  to :  “The  lust 
of  the  flesh” — appetite ;  “the  lust  of  the  eyes” — avar¬ 
ice,  gloating  over  externalities — the  splendor  and 
glitter  of  wealth,  luxury;  “the  pride  of  life” — am¬ 
bition — selfishness,  seeking  prominence  and  pre-em¬ 
inence,  the  display  of  worldly  honour,  power,  glo¬ 
ry.  All  these  attractions  the  world  has,  and  these 
are  all  it  has;  but  they  are  great  snares.  They  all 
appeal  to  self — that  root  of  all  sin  and  pride  and 
rebellion.  With  pleasures,  gains,  crowns,  which 
are  but  for  a  season,  it  ensnares  and  enslaves  the 
man. 


140 


The  World  That  Now  Is. 


III.  We  are  now  prepared  to  understand  what 
the  world  does  with  man  when  it  has  him  under 
control.  We  have  seen  what  it  is,  and  has  and  has 
not;  and  it  is  not  difficult  to  see  that  its  practical 
power  over  its  mistaken  devotees  must  be  harmful 
and  ruinous. 

!I.  The  God  of  this  world  uses  these  things  to 
take  up  the  attention  of  men.  We  are  creatures  of 
habit;  and  there  is  nothing  in  which  the  power  of 
habit  is  more  evident  than  in  the  life  of  thought 
that  we  lead.  We  think  of  some  things  for  no  assign¬ 
able  reason,  except  that  we  are  accustomed  to  think 
of  them.  Our  minds  run  in  the  channels  which  have 
been  scooped  out  by  our  customs  and  habits  of 
thought,  and  our  thoughts  determine  our  character ; 
they  give  shape  and  mould  to  our  conduct,  our 
conversation  and  our  destiny.  If  Satan  can  take 
up  attention  with  things  that  have  no  influence  in 
developing  and  enlarging  the  spiritual  life,  one 
great  end  of  his  snares  is  accomplished ;  and  hence 
we  are  told  of  the  wicked  man,  that  “God  is  not  in 
all  his  thoughts.”  The  first  charge  that  God  brings 
against  him  is  that  he  leaves  God  out  of  his  plans, 
out  of  his  daily  life;  not  that  all  his  thoughts  are 
bent  against  God,  that  he  meditates  dethroning  God, 
if  it  were  possible,  but  simply  that  he  has  not  God 
in  all  his  thoughts.  Satan  takes  up  his  attention 
with  the  things  of  the  world,  and  he  has  no  thoughts 
of  God’s  kingdom.  Things  material  and  temporal 
crowd  out  things  immaterial  and  immortal. 

141 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


2.  In  the  second  place,  Satan  uses  the  things  of 
this  world  to  blur  and  blind  the  vision  to  the  power 
of  spiritual  things.  He  deals  in  illusions  and  delu¬ 
sions,  and  makes  men  interested  in  the  magnificence 
and  glory  of  the  things  of  the  world,  and  so  indif¬ 
ferent  to  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come.  Words 
often  express  in  themselves  great  ethical  concep¬ 
tions.  Look  at  three  words  in  our  English  lang¬ 
uage,  quite  similar,  and  peculiar :  The  words  “blare,” 
“glare”  and  “flare.”  Blare  expresses  a  sound  as  of 
a  trumpet,  and  the  effect  of  such  a  sound  is  to  ren¬ 
der  the  ear  temporarily  deaf  to  any  other;  it  para¬ 
lyzes  for  the  moment  the  organs  and  faculties  of 
hearing.  Glare  represents  a  brilliant  light,  by  which 
for  the  time  the  vision  is  blinded  and  dazzled,  so 
as  to  be  insensible  to  other  objects  of  sight.  The 
word,  flare,  expresses  the  effect  of  bold,  strongly 
contrasted  and  brilliant  colors.  You  look,  for  in¬ 
stance,  from  a  deep  red,  and  cannot  discern  the  ex¬ 
act  hue  of  something  else  which  is  over  against  it. 
Your  vision  has  been  confused  by  the  brilliance  of 
these  strongly  contrasted  colors.  Satan  uses  world¬ 
ly  things  to  produce  a  similar  effect  on  the  mind. 
He  deafens  the  spiritual  ear,  by  the  blare  of  his 
trumpets ;  he  confuses,  dazzles,  blinds,  bewilders 
the  spiritual  vision  by  the  glare  and  flare,  the  bril¬ 
liance,  the  grandeur,  the  high  colored  magnificence 
of  worldly  display.  Lot  saw  the  plain  of  the  Jordan 
well  watered,  fertile,  a  capital  place  for  his  flocks 
and  his  herds.  True,  Sodom  was  there,  and  the 


The  World  That  Now  Is. 


men  of  Sodom  were  sinners  against  the  Lord  ex¬ 
ceedingly;  but  Lot’s  vision  was  dazzled  and  con¬ 
tused  by  the  external  splendor  and  beauty  of  the 
land  that  was  before  him,  and  he  chose  that  plain 
as  his  inheritance,  notwithstanding  the  wickedness 
of  the  associations  that  cursed  it.  Ahab  looked  over 
on  the  beauty  of  Naboth’s  vineyard,  its  fertility,  its 
southern  exposure  and  enviable  position,  and  his 
eyes  were  dazzled  by  its  external  attractions,  till  his 
judgment  and  conscience  ceased  to  give  a  true  re¬ 
port  of  his  duty  to  God  and  man.  That  is  Satan’s 
method — the  method  of  spiritual  eclipse!  Just  as 
this  world  at  times  may  come  between  the  inhab¬ 
itants  of  other  worlds  and  the  sun  and  eclipse  the 
sun ;  so  this  world  comes  between  the  vision  of  its 
inhabitants  and  the  sun  of  righteousness,  and  eclips¬ 
es  the  glory  and  the  splendor  of  spiritual  things. 
Some  render  2  Cor.  iv:3,  4:  “If  our  gospel  be  hid, 
it  is  hid  by  those  things  which  are  perishable ;  by 
which  the  god  of  this  world  hath  blinded  the  minds 
of  them  that  believe  not,”  etc. 

Boys  catch  birds  with  paper  funnels,  which  they 
stick  in  the  soil,  dropping  into  them  seed.  The 
birds  thrust  in  their  beaks  to  get  at  the  seed,  but 
cannot  withdraw  them,  and  so  can  neither  see,  nor 
take  wing,  and  are  easily  made  captive.  The  master 
fowler  uses  similar  snares  to  blind  men’s  eyes  and 
keep  them  from  taking  wing  to  loftier  heights. 
Robert  Hall  rebuked  an  avaricious  brother  by  writ¬ 
ing  the  word  God  on  a  card  and  covering  it  with  a 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


gold  piece.  “Do  you  see  that  word  now?”  “No.” 
“I  thought  a  sovereign,  put  between,  would  make  it 
hard  for  you  to  see  God !”  The  sun,  though  eighty 
times  as  large  as  the  earth,  and  with  it  the  whole 
arch  of  the  heavens,  may  be  hidden  from  view  by 
the  intrusion  of  a  very  small  object,  however  tri¬ 
fling,  before  the  eye.  True  advance  in  anything 
depends  on  seeing  where  one  is  going,  and  what  are 
the  relations  of  things. 

3.  Again,  Satan  uses  the  world  not  only  to  absorb 
attention,  but  affection.  A  merchant  in  Britain 
grew  so  to  love  gold  that  he  would  spend  hours  in 
gloating  over  the  sight  of  his  hoarded  treasure. 
Beau  Brummel,  the  arbiter  of  fashion  and  dictator 
of  dress,  who  boasted  of  his  intimacy  with  lords 
and  ladies  and  even  royalty  itself,  so  worshipped 
clothes  that  he  spent  a  thousand  pounds  a  year  on 
his  tailor’s  bill,  and  studied  for  hours  the  tying  of 
a  cravat.  He  wasted  fine  powers  in  follies  and  friv¬ 
olities,  and  his  character  was  worn  on  his  back  and 
made  at  so  much  a  yard. 

Thus  Satan  leads  by  subtle  steps  from  that  which 
is  not  sinful  in  itself,  to  that  which  is.  He  begins 
with  innocent  self-indulgence.  There  is  no  inherent 
wrong,  for  instance,  in  enjoying  what  ministers  to 
the  pleasure  of  the  senses ;  but  by  the  power  of  self- 
indulgence  we  become  selfish,  and  the  love  of  pleas¬ 
ure  becomes  prominent  and  pre-eminent;  and  so, 
that  which  we  think  of,  which  we  plan  for,  to  which 
we  are  devoted,  is  nothing  but  the  advancement  of 

144 


The  World  That  Now  Is. 


self,  the  indulgence  of  selfish  propensities  and  pleas¬ 
ures  !  A  man  may  come  to  be  a  monster  of  wicked¬ 
ness  through  the  simple  power  of  selfishness — to 
put  his  own  interest  habitually  before  him ;  to  think 
of  and  care  but  little  for  the  advancement  of  his 
fellow  men ;  and  when  the  question  is,  “Shall  I  give 
up  self-advantage,  in  order  to  promote  the  welfare 
of  the  greater  number,  or  push  self-advantage  to  the 
detriment  of  my  fellow  men?”  he  chooses  his  own 
gratification,  letting  the  rest  of  mankind  go.  If  the 
question  comes  up,  “Shall  I  enjoy  myself  and  for¬ 
get  the  interests  of  God  and  His  kingdom ;  or  deny 
myself,  that  I  may  promote  them  ?”  the  selfish  man, 
by  and  by,  sets  up  self  in  the  place  of  God ;  nay,  he 
may  even  become  so  Titanic  in  wickedness  that,  if 
the  question  arose  whether  God  or  himself  should 
rule  in  the  heavens,  and  he  had  it  in  his  power  to 
put  God  out  of  the  way,  he  would  have  no  hesita¬ 
tion  in  dethroning  Him  in  order  to  occupy  his 
throne.  Such  is  the  ultimate  tendency  of  selfishness ! 

Satan  leads  on  from  what  is  sensuous  to  what  is 
sensual.  Those  words  are  similar  in  sound,  and  the 
things  they  represent  lie  so  close  together  that  they 
are  oftentimes  confused,  but  in  reality  they  are  dif¬ 
ferent.  The  word  sensuous  relates  to  the  impressions 
derived  through  the  senses.  To  smell  the  perfume 
of  flowers,  hear  the  melodies  and  harmonies  of  mu¬ 
sic,  perceive  the  symmetry  of  form  and  the  beauty 
of  color  are  sensuous  delights.  Now,  what  are 
sensual  pleasures  ?  Those  which,  through  the 

145 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


senses,  arouse  and  inflame  the  passions.  Satan 
uses  the  things  which  are  sensuous  to  awaken  pas¬ 
sions  which  are  sensual.  For  instance,  Absalom 
saw  the  splendor  and  grandeur  of  the  kingdom  of 
his  father  David,  and  Satan  used  these  sensuous  at¬ 
tractions  to  inflame  his  carnal  ambition;  and  he 
said,  ‘‘I  will  be  king,  too,  even  if,  in  order  to  sit  on 
the  throne,  I  put  my  foot  on  the  neck  of  my  own 
father.,,  And  so  he  plotted  his  father’s  ruin.  Achan 
saw  the  Babylonish  garment  with  its  embroidery, 
and  the  wedge  of  gold — sensuous  attractions;  but 
avarice  was  awakened ;  and  he  said,  “I  will  have  the 
garment,  and  the  wedge  of  gold,  although  God  has 
devoted  them  to  utter  destruction ;”  so  he  stole 
them  and  hid  them  in  his  tent,  and  destruction  over¬ 
took  him.  Ahab  looked  on  the  external  beauty  of 
Naboth’s  vineyard,  sensuous  attractions;  and  covet¬ 
ousness  was  awakened;  he  said,  “I  will  have  the 
vineyard,  though  I  have  to  destroy  the  owner  of  it 
in  order  to  have  it.”  David  looked  on  the  charms 
of  Uriah’s  wife,  and  the  lust  of  appetite  was  awak¬ 
ened,  and  the  great  king  fell  into  the  foul  sins  of 
adultery  and  murder.  And  so  you  may  find  illus¬ 
trations  all  through  sacred  and  secular  history,  and 
it  is  still  true  that  Satan  leads  on  man  by  things 
which  are  simply  sensuous,  to  those  which  are  sen¬ 
sual.  And  hence  the  expression,  “the  lusts  of  the 
eyes  and  the  pride  of  life”  has  so  intimate  connec¬ 
tion  with  “the  lusts  of  the  flesh,”  because  the  lat¬ 
ter  are  excited  through  the  lust  of  the  eyes. 

146 


The  World  That  Now  Is. 


4.  The  world  is  used  by  its  “god”  to  sway  the 
judgment .  What  was  meant  to  be  an  arbiter,  occu¬ 
pying  the  seat  of  authority,  weighing  evidence  and 
deciding  in  favor  of  what  is  true,  right,  and  best, 
yields  to  the  bribes  of  this  world.  All  safe  and 
sound  decisions  become  comparatively  impossible. 

The  things  of  this  world  thus  cheat  the  worldly 
man  of  all  that  is  permanent,  substantial,  satisfying, 
enduring.  Some  things  come  unsought ;  as  for  ex¬ 
ample,  when  a  man  possesses  great  wealth,  because 
his  father  was  wealthy  before  him.  Without  know¬ 
ing  any  of  the  labor,  the  toil,  the  economy,  the  fru¬ 
gality  and  industry,  by  which  fortunes  are  com¬ 
monly  acquired,  he  comes  to  his  majority  to  find 
himself  the  owner  of  an  immense  estate;  perhaps 
he  is  the  scion  of  some  noble  house,  and  inherits  the 
title  of  a  baron  or  even  a  kingly  throne  and  sceptre. 
Many  things  come  unsought,  but  one  peculiarity  of 
spiritual  things  is  that  they  never  come  to  us  un¬ 
sought,  or  without  our  striving — agonizing — to  en¬ 
ter  in  at  the  strait  gate.  “Let  us  labor  therefore 
to  enter  into  that  rest,  lest  any  man  fall  after  the 
same  example  of  unbelief;”  and  we  are  further 
bidden  to  take  heed  lest  we  let  these  things  slip. 
The  highest  good  never  comes  to  us  unsought;  and 
if  we  do  not  earnestly,  persistently,  and  importu¬ 
nately  seek  after  these  things,  we  shall  find  them 
slipping  from  our  grasp,  even  when  we  seem  to 
have  a  hold  upon  them.  Satan,  by  taking  up  the  at¬ 
tention  and  affection  of  men,  with  the  things  of  this 

i47 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


world*  by  blinding*  their  eyes  to  spiritual  things; 
leading  them  from  that  which  is  sensuous  to  that 
which  is  sensual ;  is  preventing  them  from  seeking 
after  the  high  and  spiritual  forms  of  good,  which 
cannot  be  attained  without  earnest  striving,  labori¬ 
ous  effort,  prayerful,  careful  and  persistent  search. 

Thus,  the  world  cramps  and  cripples  man’s  better 
self.  The  Magic  Skin  was  fabled  to  empower  the 
wearer  to  realize  every  wish,  but  it  shrank  with 
every  new  gratification,  until  at  last  it  stifled  him. 
Selfishness  is  the  magic  skin,  and  our  very  indul¬ 
gences  shrink  and  shrivel  us  up,  until  there  is  a 
sort  of  mental  and  moral  atrophy  and  we  become 
incapable  of  what  is  noble  and  heroic. 

Worldly  indulgence  ends  in  a  strange  recklessness, 
as  may  be  seen  pathetically  in  the  drunkard,  the  de¬ 
bauchee,  the  gambler.  A  follower  of  Pizarro,  in 
Peru,  got  as  his  share  of  booty,  a  priceless  golden 
image  of  the  sun,  which  in  one  night  he  staked  and 
lost  at  the  gaming  table.  A  woman,  at  Monte  Carlo, 
in  ten  days  lost  250,000  dollars — 25,000  in  one  cast 
of  the  dice — and  then  blew  out  her  brains. 

That  picture,  “Le  Chasse  de  Bonheur  ”  portrays  a 
young  man  of  kingly  mien,  madly  pursuing  a  golden 
bauble  in  the  hand  of  a  fair  woman  who  floats  in 
the  air  before  him;  while  his  steed  is  trampling 
with  his  hoofs  his  wife  and  child,  and  just  ahead 
a  break  in  the  bridge  reveals  a  frightful  chasm 
into  which  he  is  unconsciously  about  to  leap.  It 
startlingly  hints  how  men  in  mad  haste  to  get 

148 


The  World  That  Now  Is. 


money,  pleasure,  fame,  tread  down  all  that  is  most 
precious  and  crush  out  all  higher  aspirations  and 
plunge  into  ruin. 

5.  Satan  uses  the  things  of  this  world  to  leave 
a  man  at  the  last  moment  utterly  poor,  miserable, 
wretched,  blind,  naked  and  destitute.  When  we 
come  to  the  dying  hour,  how  does  everything  in  this 
world  appear?  Suppose  we  have  gathered  to  our¬ 
selves  all  possible  material  possessions.  They  slip 
out  of  our  grasp.  We  go  out  of  this  world  with¬ 
out  one  of  all  those  material  forms  of  treasure,  that 
we  may  have  spent  a  life  time  in  accumulating. 
Everything  temporal,  passing  away,  seems  insig¬ 
nificant,  and  at  the  threshold  of  life  that,  like  God’s 
own  existence,  has  no  end,  we  have  nothing  left. 
Satan  has  taken  up  our  attention,  blinded  our  vis¬ 
ion,  led  us  on  to  sensual  joys,  prevented  our  seeking 
after  the  things  of  God,  and  now,  how  does  he  pay 
us?  By  ushering  us  through  the  portals  of  death 
into  the  great  hereafter,  utterly  stripped  and  des¬ 
olate.  The  things  we  most  of  all  cherished,  for 
which  we  lived  and  labored — not  a  solitary  frag¬ 
ment  to  be  carried  through  that  gateway  into  the 
awful  Forevermore !  I  do  not  wonder  that  the 
Bible  Warns  us  against  this  evil  world,  more  em¬ 
phatically  even  than  against  terrible  and  flagrant 
forms  of  wickedness ;  for  this  world  has  caused  the 
great  bulk  of  the  human  race  to  start  upon  eternity 
without  any  hope,  any  faith,  any  joy,  any  prepara- 

149 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


tion,  any  capacity  for  holy  pleasure,  or  any  accu¬ 
mulation  of  heavenly  treasure. 

The  verse,  quoted  from  First  Corinthians,  is  es¬ 
pecially  interesting  as  the  only  one  in  which  the 
phrase  occurs :  “the  spirit  of  the  world”  It  is  im¬ 
portant  to  understand  just  what  this  spirit  of  the 
world  is,  especially  as  we  are  told  that  “we  have 
received  not  the  spirit  of  the  world,  but  the  Spirit 
which  is  of  God.”  The  Spirit  which  is  of  God  is  put 
in  contrast  to  the  spirit  of  the  world,  as  peculiar  to 
disciples,  and  it  is  intimated  that  the  reception  of 
the  Spirit  of  God  enables  them  to  know  and  under¬ 
stand  certain  things  that  are  freely  or  graciously 
given  of  God;  but  that,  so  far  as  we  receive  and 
possess  the  spirit  of  the  world,  we  can  not  under¬ 
stand  or  know  those  things  which  are  only  revealed 
by  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  drift  of  this  entire  chap¬ 
ter  and  the  preceding  one,  is  that  he  who  has  re¬ 
ceived  the  Spirit  of  God  has  his  eyes  opened  to  un~ 
derstand  things  hidden  from  the  natural  or  worldly- 
spirited. 

What,  then,  is  “the  spirit  of  the  world  ?”  It  is  a 
disposition  which  gives  undue  value  to  the  things 
that  are  material,  and  temporal,  neglecting  the 
things  that  are  spiritual  and  eternal.  The  god  of 
this  world  has  very  subtle  snares  for  the  feet  even 
of  disciples.  He  dazzles  our  vision  with  splendid 
and  beautiful  things ;  dazzles  our  senses  with  sensu¬ 
ous  attractions ;  dazzles  and  bewilders  our  judgment 
by  the  intoxicating  influences  of  things  that  appeal, 

150 


The  World  That  Now  Is. 


through  the  senses,  to  the  imagination;  and  so  he 
shuts  out  of  our  lives  the  consideration  of  the  in¬ 
finite  things  of  God.  When  we  come  to  understand 
the  methods  by  which  Satan  leads  sinners  astray 
through  the  power  of  this  world,  and  the  spirit  that 
works  in  the  children  of  disobedience,  we  shall  be 
able  to  understand  why,  in  the  Bible,  we  are  so 
warned  against  worldliness !  Paul  says,  concerning 
the  carnal  mind,  in  the  eighth  chapter  of  Romans: 
“The  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God.”  James, 
the  Apostle  of  Action,  and  John,  the  Apostle  of 
Contemplation,  utter  the  same  emphatic  admonition 
against  the  world.  James  says,  “The  friendship  of 
the  world  is  enmity  against  God;  whosoever,  there¬ 
fore,  will  be  a  friend  of  the  world,  is  the  enemy  of 
God.”  John  is  no  less  emphatic  (i  John  ii  :i 5, 16, 17)  : 
“Love  not  the  world,  neither  the  things  that  are  in 
the  world.  If  any  man  love  the  world,  the  love  of 
the  Father  is  not  in  him.”  And  in  the  book  of  the 
Revelation,  although  terrible  curses  are  pronounced 
against  various  forms  of  wickedness,  the  church 
is  warned  as  with  trumpet  tones  against  the  en¬ 
croachments  of  the  power  of  the  world,  the  fashion 
of  the  world,  the  love  of  the  world,  and  the  disposi¬ 
tion  that  rules  in  worldly  bosoms! 

Those  phrases  in  our  Lord’s  intercessory  prayer 
briefly  answer  all  honest  questions  about  the  disci¬ 
ple’s  relation  to  the  world.  He  is  chosen  out  of  the 
world,  but  sent  back  into  it  as  a  witness;  he  is. 
therefore,  in  it,  but  is  not  to  be  of  it;  he  will  be 

151 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

hated  by  it,  but  kept  from  the  evil  that  is  in  it;  and 
is  so  to  live  as  that  the  world  may  know  and  believe. 

Whatever  relation  is  necessarily  sustained  must 
be  a  consecrated  one.  We  are  to  spiritualize  the  sec¬ 
ular,  not  secularize  the  spiritual.  Whatever  our 
worldly  “calling/’  we  are  to  account  it  our  divine 
vocation,  and  therein  abide  with  God  ( i  Cor.  vii  :20 
24).  Thus  the  very  tools  and  implements  of  daily 
work  become  sacred  by  a  partnership  with  God. 
Like  Baruch  the  son  of  Zabbai,  a  man  may  build  or 
repair  a  piece  of  wall  “earnestly,”  as  part  of  his 
high  calling  (Neh.  iii:20),  putting  his  conscience 
into  brick  and  mortar. 

When  the  queen  of  Sheba  visited  Solomon  she 
was  most  impressed  by  the  “ascent  by  which  he 
went  up  to  the  House  of  the  Lord.”  Dr.  Robinson 
identified  this  as  a  viaduct,  350  feet  in  length,  and 
150  in  height  at  the  central  arch,  whereby  the  king 
connected  his  own  house  with  the  Lord’s.  That 
ascent  may  well  typify  the  life  that,  in  going  from 
the  sanctuary  on  the  Sabbath  to  one’s  own  house 
and  work,  maintains,  throughout,  the  same  sacred 
level;  it  is  not  necessary  to  go  down  to  a  lower 
plane  to  business,  and  then  struggle  up  to  a  higher, 
when  we  go  to  worship! 

The  Christian  disciple  should  know  that  the  spirit 
of  the  world  makes  impossible  the  grozvth,  even  if 
not  the  existence,  of  spiritual  life.  It  is  a  question 
never  settled  yet,  how  far  the  possession  of  a  world¬ 
ly  spirit  is  compatible  with  the  existence  of  spirit- 

152 


The  World  That  Now  Is. 


ual  life ;  but  one  thing  is  sure,  that  growth  is  utterly 
impossible  so  long  and  so  far  as  a  worldly  spirit  has 
possession  and  control.  For  the  spiritual  life  has 
its  own  form  of  sustenance :  it  grows  by  familiarity 
with  spiritual  things,  and  can  not  grow  otherwise. 
If,  therefore,  it  be  possible  for  a  spiritual  man  to 
have  a  worldly  spirit,  it  is  impossible  for  him  tc 
grow  in  resemblance  to  Christ.  He  is  starving  his 
spiritual  nature,  at  best.  By  familiarity  with  spirit¬ 
ual  things  the  soul  grows  mighty  in  the  graces  and 
in  the  virtues  of  Christian  life.  And  in  proportion 
as  you  let  these  things  alone  and  cultivate  the  spirit 
of  the  world  by  familiarity  with  worldly  things,  in 
such  proportion  you  grow  thin  and  weak  spirit¬ 
ually,  even  if  you  do  not  lose  all  hope  that  you  are  a 
child  of  God. 

So  far  as  the  worldly  spirit  possesses  a  disciple 
it  makes  him  ignorant,  even  if  he  loses  not  percep¬ 
tion  altogether,  of  the  things  of  God.  ‘‘We  have 
received  not  the  spirit  of  the  world,  but  the  Spirit 
which  is  of  God,  that  we  might  know  the  things  that 
are  freely  given  to  as  of  God ”  God  has  made  no 
more  glorious  revelation  of  Himself,  except  in  the 
Holy  Scriptures  and  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ, 
than  in  the  personal  lives  of  true  disciples.  It  is 
necessary,  in  order  that  the  teachings  of  the  Word 
of  God  and  the  power  of  the  example  of  Christ,  and 
the  illuminating  influences  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  should 
be  received  by  the  disciple,  that  he  should  have  first 
of  all  a  spiritual  mind.  These  things  are  not  seen 

i53 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


by  the  eye  of  sense,  or  reason  or  imagination,  but 
by  the  spiritual  eye  of  faith,  which  depends,  for 
quickness  of  discernment,  upon  the  indwelling 
power  and  presence  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  world¬ 
ly  man  may  be  a  very  good  man,  in  the  ordinary 
sense;  companionable  and  lovable,  and  yet  not  un¬ 
derstand  the  things  of  God.  A  worldly  man  ought 
to  have  no  position  of  influence  in  the  Church  of 
God,  whatever,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest, 
though  some  such  men  are  oftentimes  men  that  we 
love,  even  as  Jesus  Christ  loved  the  young  man  in  the 
Gospel.  But  the  worldly  man,  or  the  professor  of 
religion  with  a  worldly  spirit,  cannot  understand 
the  things  of  God.  If  I  were  to  practice  medicine 
without  a  practical  knowledge  of  medicine,  I  might 
be  a  very  respectable  and  estimable  man,  but  I  would 
not  make  a  good  doctor.  If  I  should  attempt  to 
practice  law  without  a  knowledge  of  law,  I  might  be 
a  very  respectable  man,  but  people  would  not  want 
me  as  a  counselor  at  law.  Just  so  a  man  of  the 
world,  or  a  Christian  with  a  worldly  spirit,  may  be 
very  lovable  and  yet,  not  having  the  capacity  to 
understand  and  perceive  the  things  which  are  of 
God,  he  is  not  a  fit  man  to  preach  the  Gospel  in 
the  pulpit,  to  hold  any  official  position,  or  exercise 
any  controlling  influence  in  the  church :  because  the 
church  of  God  is  regulated  by  spiritual  measures, 
and  the  worldly  man  cannot  perceive  the  wisdom  of 
those  methods. 

In  proportion  as  the  disciple  is  a  worldly  man  he 

i54 


The  World  That  Now  Is. 


loses  the  power  to  discern  spiritual  things.  When 
he  is  taken  up  with  the  things  of  the  world  and  gives 
them  undue  value,  by  his  undue  dependence  upon 
them,  he  is,  for  the  time  being  at  least,  blind  to  the 
things  of  God's  kingdom;  whereas,  another  man 
who  may  have  no  learning,  culture,  social  position, 
or  influence  in  a  worldly  sense,  may  have  deep  spir¬ 
itual  perception,  penetration,  and  wisdom.  He  may 
have  that  profound  insight  in  reference  to  the  things 
that  pertain  to  God’s  kingdom,  which  gives  him  an 
infinite  superiority  over  the  most  learned,  cultivated 
and  influential  persons  according  to  the  world’s 
judgment  of  capacity  and  power. 

The  disciple  who  is  worldly-minded,  possessed 
and  controlled  by  the  spirit  of  the  world,  can  not  be 
a  useful  man  with  respect  to  the  kingdom  of  God. 
God’s  work  is  best  performed  by  men  who  are  im¬ 
pressed  with  the  power  of  an  unseen  life,  and  man¬ 
ifest  the  beauty  of  God’s  character;  and  the  influ¬ 
ence  of  those  who  live  in  communion  and  fellow¬ 
ship  with  the  unseen  God,  can  not  be  calculated :  in 
proportion  as  the  disciple  gives  prominence  to  the 
things  that  are  material,  in  such  proportion  does  he 
make  it  impossible  to  get  that  strength  and  effective¬ 
ness  in  Christian  work  that  is  found  in  an  unworldly 
life. 

There  are  some  professors  of  the  religion  of 
Christ,  good  citizens,  fathers,  husbands,  sons,  and 
brothers,  admired  for  intellectual  faculties,  for  cul¬ 
ture;  respected  and  honored,  and  not  undeservedly 

i55 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


so,  by  the  world,  for  capacity,  and  influence  among 
men;  who,  when  they  come  by  Divine  Grace  into 
the  kingdom,  if  so  be  that  they  are  scarcely  saved, 
will  find  that  their  spiritual  influence  in  leading  men 
to  Jesus  Christ  has  been  paralyzed,  simply  because 
of  a  worldly  spirit;  simply  because  others  saw  no 
difference  between  them  and  themselves,  because 
they  have  seen  them  pursuing  the  phantoms  of  this 
world,  occupied  by  the  things  that  blinded  and  daz¬ 
zled  their  own  vision,  and  having  no  spiritual  dis¬ 
crimination  and  discernment  with  regard  to  the 
things  of  God.  It  is  an  awful  fact  that  there  are 
some  that  will  be  “scarcely  saved” — saved  because 
of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  but  whose  whole  life  will 
have  been  practically  thrown  away,  because  what 
they  have  labored  for,  has  been  what  perishes.  Sup¬ 
pose  I  have  spread  a  network  of  railroads,  or  built 
canals,  that  have  spanned  a  continent;  suppose  I 
have  erected  great  structures  having  to  do  with 
human  arts  and  industries,  and  have  accelerated  the 
progress  of  the  race  in  civilization;  and  yet  have 
done  nothing  to  provide  men  with  bags  which  wax 
not  old,  treasure  in  the  heavens  which  faileth  not, 
where  no  thief  approacheth,  nor  moth  corrupteth; 
what  will  be  my  feelings  in  the  eternal  state,  when 
this  world  with  all  its  triumphs  of  art,  and  industry, 
and  commercial  enterprise,  shall  be  burned  up,  when 
all  its  magnificence  of  worldly  splendor  shall  be  no 
more;  when  I  behold  millions  upon  millions  of  the 
human  race  standing  before  the  bar  of  God  to  re- 

156 


The  World  That  Now  Is. 


ceive  the  sentence  of  final  destiny,  and  remember 
that  not  one  soul  in  all  the  millions  of  the  saved  I 
have  brought  to  a  knowledge  of  Christ,  and  not  one 
soul  in  all  the  millions  of  the  lost,  I  have  turned 
away  from  the  absorbing  devotion  to  the  things  that 
perish!  These  are  tremendous  thoughts!  All  past 
years  are  gone  forever,  with  their  opportunities. 
Shall  we  continue  pursuing  the  same  course  that 
we  have  been?  Shall  we  live  for  this  world  or  the 
world  to  come?  Shall  we  live  as  witnesses  to  men 
of  the  power  of  the  unseen  God,  and  the  life  of 
faith  or  shall  we  devote  ourselves  to  things  that 
perish,  to  the  accumulation  of  material  wealth  and 
the  extension  of  material  enterprise?  Shall  we  seek 
to  promote  commercial  interests,  and  yet  not  turn 
the  thoughts  of  men  to  the  life  that  has  no  end? 

Orcagna,  the  Italian,  in  his  painting  of  the  Last 
Judgment,  represents  Solomon,  as  rising  from  the 
dead  in  regal  robes,  with  crown  and  sceptre,  and 
looking  round  in  bewilderment,  not  knowing  wheth¬ 
er  he  belongs  on  the  right  or  left  hand  of  the  Judge. 
What  a  satire  on  worldly  disciples,  who  have  been 
so  controlled  by  the  carnal  that  they  know  not  wheth¬ 
er  they  will  be  acknowledged  at  all  as  the  Lord’s! 
How  different  Pannecker,  the  German  Sculptor,  / 
who,  asked  to  make  a  statue  of  Venus,  replied  with 
tearful  eyes,  “For  eight  years  I  have  been  studying 
to  chisel  the  face  of  Christ ;  can  this  same  hand  now 
sculpture  a  heathen  goddess?” 

We  are  bidden  to  “use  this  world  as  not  abusing 

i57 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


it;  for  the  fashion  of  this  world  passeth  away” — 
literally,  its  stage  scenery .  Satan  uses  this  world  as 
a  stage,  and  its  framework  of  superficial  scenery, 
tinted  in  glowing  colors,  to  fascinate  the  eye  for  a 
little;  and  when  it  ceases  to  charm,  he  substitutes 
another  bit  of  the  same  stage  scenery  to  keep  up  the 
illusion.  Oftentimes  we  recognize  the  hollow  and 
shallow  character  of  worldly  things  and  do  not  ex¬ 
pect  them  to  last  nor  our  relish  for  them.  But  mean¬ 
while,  like  the  wooden  framework  on  which  the 
stone  arch  is  formed,  these  trifles  are  giving  shape 
to  character,  and  what  we  by  and  by  renounce  will 
already  have  moulded  us  for  eternity.  We  may 
discard  the  pleasures  as  we  burn  the  wooden  frame¬ 
work,  but  the  shape  given  to  character  lasts. 

A  few  winters  ago,  in  the  rapids  of  Niagara,  an 
eagle  was  seen  upon  a  block  of  ice,  feasting  on  the 
carcass  of  a  lamb.  Just  on  the  brink  of  the  falls 
the  great  bird  spread  its  wings  for  flight,  but  the 
feet  were  frozen  fast  to  the  ice,  and  all  plunged  to¬ 
gether  into  the  abyss.  Many  a  slave  of  this  world 
counts  on  escaping  from  its  bonds  at  last,  but  finds 
it  too  late  at  the  dying  hour,  and  often  before  that, 
when  the  fetters  become  galling.  Beau  Brummel, 
already  referred  to  as  an  example  of  a  wasted  life, 
after  reckless  vices  and  gambling  had  made  him 
both  a  financial  and  moral  bankrupt,  fled  to  France 
to  escape  his  creditors,  and  there  died  in  poverty 
and  exile.  His  last  earthly  pastime  revealed  the 
mockery  of  his  worldly  idolatry.  He  amused  him- 

158 


The  World  That  Now  Is. 


self  with  a  phantom  feast,  alike  his  brilliant  com¬ 
pany  of  guests,  his  dainty  viands  and  costly  wines, 
his  servants  and  surroundings  being  the  creatures 
of  his  own  fancy. 

At  the  Milan  Cathedral,  three  significant  inscrip¬ 
tions  surmount  the  respective  doorways.  Over  the 
right  hand  portal,  a  sculptured  wreath  of  flowers, 
with  the  motto:  “All  that  pleases  is  but  for  a  mo¬ 
ment/’  Over  the  left  hand  entrance  a  cross  and 
crown  of  thorns,  and  under  it,  “All  that  troubles  is 
but  for  a  moment/’  But  over  the  central  door,  a 
simple  sentence:  “Nothing  is  important  save  that 
which  is  eternal/’ 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Unseen  World  of  Spirits. 

This  theme  is  scarcely  outranked,  in  importance, 
solemnity  and  gravity,  by  any  other  in  the  whole 
range  of  spiritual  truth,  and  hence  the  need  of  again 
carefully  following  Scripture  leading.  We  select  six 
suggestive  texts: 

“God  is  a  Spirit”  (John  iv:24). 

“The  number  of  them  (the  angeis)  was  ten  thou¬ 
sand  times  ten  thousand  and  thousands  of  thou¬ 
sands”  (Revelation  v:n). 

The  angel  of  the  Lord  encampeth  round  about 
them  that  fear  him,  and  delivereth  them  (Psalm 
xxxiv:7). 

Put  on  the  whole  armour  of  God,  that  ye  may  be 
able  to  stand  against  the  wiles  of  the  devil.  For 
we  wrestle  not  against  flesh  and  blood,  but  against 
principalities,  against  powers,  against  the  rulers  of 
the  darkness  of  this  world,  against  spiritual  wicked¬ 
ness  in  high  places  (Ephes.  vi:ii,  12). 

We  look  not  at  the  things  which  are  seen,  but  at 
the  things  which  are  not  seen :  for  the  things  which 
are  seen  are  temporal ;  but  the  things  which  are  not 
seen  are  eternal  (2  Cor.  iv:i8). 

The  Lord  opened  the  eyes  of  the  young  man ;  and 
he  saw :  and  behold,  the  mountain  was  full  of  horses 


The  Unseen  World  of  Spirits. 

and  chariots  of  fire  round  about  Elisha  (2  Kings 
vi:i7). 

From  these  Scriptures  we  learn : 

1.  That  there  is  a  spiritual  realm  over  which  God, 
Himself  a  Spirit,  reigns. 

2.  That  countless  hosts  of  spirits  inhabit  this 
realm. 

3.  That  good  angels  specially  minister  to  saints. 

4.  That  evil  angels  continually  seek  to  deceive 
and  destroy. 

5.  That  we  should  live  for  the  unseen  and  eternal. 

6.  That  only  a  lack  of  vision  prevents  us  from 
seeing  the  encompassing  hosts  of  spirits. 

Some  grave  hindrances  beset  the  treatment  of 
this  subject,  foremost  among  which  is  the  mysterious 
and  occult  nature  of  this  whole  realm.  It  evades 
our  senses,  and  defies  adequate  exploration  and  in¬ 
vestigation.  We  have  seen  that  in  studying  the 
complex  constitution  of  man,  the  moment  we  pass 
beyond  sensible  phenomena,  we  find  mysteries  which 
need  subtler  faculties  to  examine  them.  Our 
thoughts  themselves  belong  to  the  invisible  realm, 
and  even  their  connection  with  audible  speech  and 
visible  action  we  cannot  comprehend.  We  know 
that,  when  we  will  to  raise  the  arm,  the  will  influences 
ences  the  nerves  of  motion,  the  nerves,  the  muscles, 
and  the  muscles,  the  bone ;  but  the  explanation 
needs  explaining;  for  how  an  invisible  purpose  links 
itself  on  to  a  visible  action  no  one  can  tell. 

Another  hindrance  to  investigation  lies  in  the  fact 

161 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


that  this  realm  of  mystery  is  also  one  of  doubt  and 
uncertainty ;  indeed,  not  a  few  deny  its  existence, 
and  hold  that  man  is  nothing  but  matter,  highly  or¬ 
ganized,  and  at  death  goes  to  dust,  and  ceases  to  be. 
The  Sadducees  refuse  to  believe  in  the  existence 
of  spirit,  and  hence,  in  any  survival  after  death,  or 
resurrection  from  the  dead. 

There  is  but  one  real  source  of  knowledge  of  this 
spiritual  universe :  it  is  the  Word  of  God.  Though 
there  have  been  endless  conjectures  and  countless 
speculations  about  it,  even  philosophers  and  sages 
have  never  agreed,  and  the  only  clear  light  ever 
thrown  into  the  darkness  of  this  unseen  world  has 
been  what  shines  from  God’s  own  Book,  where 
what  eye  hath  not  seen,  ear  heard,  or  heart  con- 
peived,  is  plainly  revealed — things  which  no  mere 
intellectual  search  or  psychic  investigation  ever  un¬ 
veiled.  One  of  the  grand  proofs  that  the  Scriptures 
are  God-inspired  is  found  in  the  air  of  absolute  posi¬ 
tiveness  and  infallible  certainty  with  which  these 
occult  mysteries  are  treated.  There  is  no  timid  feel¬ 
ing  after  truth  or  hesitating  utterance  concerning  it, 
but  a  consistent  body  of  teaching  concerning  the 
unseen  realm,  that  has  at  least  this  to  recommend  it, 
that,  for  the  first  and  only  time,  it  gives  man  a  sim¬ 
ple  and  satisfactory  solution  of  perhaps  his  greatest 
problem.  Here  is  teaching  which  has  about  it  dual¬ 
ity;  it  is  the  utterance  of  One  who  speaks  as  confi¬ 
dently  as  about  the  most  common  facts  or  phenome¬ 
na,  and  treats  what  is  hidden  from  the  senses  as  a 

162 


The  Unseen  World  of  Spirits. 


familiar  commonplace.  He  who,  after  vain  at¬ 
tempts  to  find  in  man’s  hypotheses  and  philosophies 
any  solid  ground  to  rest  upon,  comes  with  open 
mind  and  heart  to  inquire  at  God’s  living  oracles, 
gets  an  answer  to  all  his  inquiries  and  a  sure  basis 
for  faith  and  hope. 

The  Realm  of  the  Unseen  is,  therefore,  to  a  be¬ 
liever  in  the  Word  of  God,  an  undisputable  reality, 
whose  existence  and  importance  are  never  argued 
but  assumed .  Scepticism  attacks  the  whole  position 
merely  on  the  ground  that,  in  the  researches  of 
natural  science,  there  are  no  traces  of  the  super¬ 
natural,  and  that  the  very  idea  of  disembodied 
spirits  is  inconceivable.  Dr.  Alfred  Barry  well  re¬ 
marks  “that  while  both  facts  are  true,  the  inference 
is  false.” 

Natural  Science  deals  mainly  with  things  material 
and  visible;  if  it  touches  the  unseen  at  all,  it  is 
only  because  invisible  Energy  works  as  force  in  the 
realm  of  matter.  In  all  its  research  Science  reaches 
a  limit,  a  region  of  darkness  beyond  which  it  can¬ 
not  penetrate.  Yet  this  very  darkness  in  which 
Science  ends,  when  it  approaches  soul  and  spirit  and 
their  relation  to  matter,  so  far  from  contradicting, 
rather  implies  the  existence  of  an  unseen  world 
and  of  supernatural  influence.  In  fact  scientific  in¬ 
ference  itself  points  in  that  direction,  so  that  it  is 
difficult  to  understand  how  a  scientist  can  escape 
the  conclusion  that  there  is  an  unseen  realm. 

163 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


Again  we  cite  2  Cor.  iv:i6-v:4,  the  leading  Scrip¬ 
ture  passage  which  contrasts  the  two  worlds. 

Though  our  outward  man  perish,  yet  the  inward 
man  is  renewed  day  by  day. 

For  our  light  affliction,  which  is  but  for  a  mo¬ 
ment,  worketh  for  us  a  far  more  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory ; 

While  we  look  not  at  the  things  which  are  seen, 
but  at  the  things  which  are  not  seen :  for  the  things 
which  are  seen  are  temporal;  but  the  things  which 
are  not  seen  are  eternal. 

For  we  know  that  if  our  earthly  house  of  this 
tabernacle  were  dissolved,  we  have  a  building  of 
God,  an  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the 
heavens. 

For  in  this  we  groan,  earnestly  desiring  to  be 
clothed  upon  with  our  house  which  is  from  heaven : 

If  so  be  that  being  clothed  we  shall  not  be  found 
naked. 

For  we  that  are  in  this  tabernacle  do  groan,  being 
burdened :  not  for  that  we  would  be  unclothed,  but 
clothed  upon,  that  mortality  might  be  swallowed 
up  of  life. 

Note  the  phrases  used  here :  “Outward  man,”  “In¬ 
ward  man “for  a  moment,”  “temporal,”  “eternal ;” 
“things  which  are  seen,”  “things  which  are  not 
seen “earthly  house,”  “house  not  made  with 
hands;”  “mortality,”  “Life,”  etc. 

Here  the  realms  are  plainly  contrasted:  the  mate- 

164 


The  Unseen  World  of  Spirits. 


rial,  temporal,  visible;  the  immaterial,  eternal,  in¬ 
visible  ;  both  treated  as  equally  real  and  indisputable. 

We  have  seen  that  life  is  a  ladder,  resting  on 
earth  and  reaching  up  to  heaven,  and  like  any  lad¬ 
der,  lifts  us,  rung  by  rung,  from  what  is  below  to 
that  which  is  above.  Where  the  ladder  touches 
earth  we  find  matter  so  gross  that  it  can  be  tested 
by  all  five  senses;  but  as  we  ascend  material  forms 
become  more  and  more  ethereal  and  evasive,  until  we 
reach  what  no  sense  can  detect,  yet  which  we  are  sure 
is.  No  sense  can  perceive  gravitation,  cohesion,  cen¬ 
trifugal  and  centripetal  forces,  but  we  trace  their 
effects.  Life  itself  defies  all  analysis,  yet  we  find 
it  everywhere,  in  earth  and  sea.  A  dead  body — a 
corpse — and  a  living  body — a  corpus — are  alike 
in  structure,  appearance,  features,  yet  in  one  is 
something  not  in  the  other,  which  cannot  be  con¬ 
fined  within  walls  or  bounds ;  and  which  where  air 
and  water  and  light  cannot  pass,  passes  unhindered. 
It  is  independent  even  of  conductors,  and  cannot 
be  insulated,  like  electricity,  nor  isolated.  Thought 
is  the  most  important  thing  about  us,  none  of  us 
ever  saw,  heard,  felt  it,  or  subjected  it  to  any  physi¬ 
cal  and  sensible  tests.  Speaking  scientifically ,  re¬ 
search  shows  that,  as  we  go  up  Life’s  ladder,  we 
come  successively  to  material  forms  and  forces 
which  appeal  to  all  the  senses,  then  to  four,  three, 
two,  one,  and  finally  to  none.  Is  it  not  a  natural  in¬ 
ference  that,  if  we  could  climb  up  higher  we  should 
find  a  realm  of  pure  spirit  where  Life  is  not  limited 

165 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


by  physical  and  material  conditions;  and,  at  the 
summit  and  crown  of  all,  One  Supreme  Being,  who 
is  a  Spirit  infinite,  invisible,  eternal,  without  form 
or  similitude,  whom  no  man  hath  seen  or  can  see  ? 

Just  this  is  what  the  Word  of  God  teaches;  at 
the  point  where  science  finds  its  limit — where  the 
Mare  Tenebrum  stretches  away  toward  a  limitless 
horizon.  Holy  Scripture  offers  to  guide  man’s  bark 
safely.  There  is  no  doubt  about  the  wonderful 
handling  of  this  inscrutable  mystery  in  the  Bible. 
What  all  the  study  of  thousands  of  years  could  not 
illumine,  one  ray  of  God  lights  up. 

God  is  the  all-presiding,  all-pervading,  uncreated 
Spirit.  Between  Him  and  Man  there  lies  an  inter¬ 
mediate  Realm,  inhabited  by  a  higher  order  of  in¬ 
telligences,  neither  pure  spirit  like  God,  nor  so  physi¬ 
cally  constituted  as  man.  They  are  called  angels, 
because  they  appear  in  Scripture  as  Messengers  of 
God  to  man.  They  appear  to  exist  in  a  Hierarchy, 
or  organized  body  with  orders  or  ranks,  and  of 
these  we  find  even  the  names  given.  This  is  what  we 
could  expect,  for,  as  among  men,  there  must  be  dif¬ 
ferent  degrees  of  capacity,  sagacity  and  ability,  and 
consequently,  authority. 

The  late  Prof.  William  G.  T.  Shedd  was  wont  to 
condemn  the  common  notion  that  by  the  natural  is 
meant  the  material  and  visible,  and  by  the  super¬ 
natural  the  immaterial  and  invisible.  He  pointed  ont 
with  rare  acumen  that  nature  may  be  as  invisible 
and  immaterial  as  spirit.  Back  of  this  world  of 

1 66 


The  Unseen  World  of  Spirits. 


nature  which  we  apprehend  by  the  five  senses, 
there  is  an  invisible  world  which  is  nature  still, 
which  is  not  supernatural,  because  there  is  no  moral 
element  in  it. 

Confessedly,  then,  no  realm  of  being  throughout 
the  whole  universe  is  so  mysterious,  baffling  our 
utmost  research;  so  that,  after  five  thousand  years, 
we  have  not  arrived  at  any  scientific  certainty,  and 
even  the  foremost  scientists  themselves  are  divided ; 
some  of  them  considering  that  they  have  found 
some  of  the  facts  of  the  psychic  realm;  others  re¬ 
maining  absolute  agnostics  and  regarding  all  so- 
called  “discovery”  as  an  illusion. 

The  only  clear  and  consistent  unfolding  of  these 
mysteries  is  that  contained  in  the  Word  of  God, 
and,  if  we  accept  this  solution,  however  incompre¬ 
hensible  this  realm,  it  is  at  least  apprehensible:  all 
is  clear.  And  as  in  this  series  of  studies  we  pro¬ 
fessedly  base  everything  upon  the  Bible,  we  pro¬ 
pose,  without  suggesting  a  doubt  of  its  truth,  to 
present  the  Scripture  teaching  as  to  this  unseen 
world  and  its  relation  to  man.  We  make  no  apolo¬ 
gies  for  boldly  accepting  as  a  platform  the  whole 
Biblical  Revelation  on  this  subject;  and,  if  the  Scrip¬ 
tural  teaching  is  scouted  even  by  some  who  profess 
to  be  believers ;  if  many  would  refine  away  all  literal 
statements  by  giving  them  a  mystical  or  mythical 
meaning;  one  comfort  will  be  ours,  that  the  further 
afield  we  wander  from  the  simple  Biblical  position, 

167 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


the  mofe  difficulties  we  have  to  confront  and  the 
more  mysteries  to  leave  unsolved. 

The  teaching  of  the  Word  of  God  upon  this  sub¬ 
ject  may  be  comprehended  in  the  following  dozen 
statements : 

1.  There  is  an  unseen  world,  not  only  invisible, 
but  insensible — neither  its  forces  nor  its  phenomena 
capable  of  being  tested  by  the  physical  senses. 

2.  This  unseen  realm  is  infinitely  more  important, 
and  potential  for  good  or  evil,  than  the  realm  of 
the  material  and  visible. 

3.  This  unseen  world  belongs  not  to  the  temporal 
but  the  eternal  order.  It  is  the  realm  where  Life  is 
found  and  from  which  all  life  proceeds,  and  which 
we  have  no  proof  that  literal  Death  ever  invades. 

4.  This  unseen  world  is  a  world  of  Intelligent 
and  Conscious  Being — independent  Life,  peopled 
with  spirits,  which,  if  not  disembodied,  are  inde¬ 
pendent  of  a  material  organism. 

5.  In  this  unseen  world  the  One  ruling  all  perva¬ 
sive  spirit  is  God — source  of  all  Being,  who  only 
hath  inherent  and  uncreated  Life. 

6.  In  this  unseen  world  are  countless  forms  of 
inferior  and  created  spirits,  differing  in  intelligence, 
dignity  and  power. 

7.  These  spirits  are  called  in  the  Bible  angels 
and  exist  in  a  vast  hierarchy  with  several  ranks,  to 
which  six  or  seven  distinct  names  are  applied  in 

Scripture:  such  as  Archangels,  Principalities,  Av< 

168 


The  Unseen  World  of  Spirits. 


thorities  or  Powers,  Thrones,  Rulers,  Dominions, 
Cherubim,  Seraphim,  Spirits,  etc. 

8.  Among  these  spirits,  or  angels,  a  mysterious 
Revolt  once  took  place,  headed  by  Satan,  who  drew 
after  him  in  his  fall  multitudes,  now  known  as 
“fallen  angels,”  demons,  etc.  —  and  among  them 
exist  similar  ranks,  at  least  four  names  being  ap¬ 
plied  to  them — Principalities,  Powers,  World  Rul¬ 
ers,  Wicked  Spirits. 

9.  All  spirits,  good  or  bad,  have  access  to  man's 
spiritual  being  and  actually  do  influence  him  for 
good  or  evil.  And  more  than  one  spirit  may  operate 
upon  or  even  occupy  his  spirit. 

10.  Man's  only  hope  of  deliverance  from  the 
power  of  evil  spirits,  or  even  of  discerning  whether 
or  not  the  spirits  are  good  or  evil  is  to  be  indwelt 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God. 

11.  A  disciple  may  be  influenced  at  one  moment 
by  God's  good  Spirit  and  the  next  by  the  spirit  of 
evil  and  even  Satan  himself,  so  that  there  is  occa¬ 
sion  for  perpetual  watchfulness  and  prayer. 

1 2.  Evil  spirits  acquire  their  greatest  power 
from  their  subtilty.  They  are  masters  of  the  art  of 
deception,  and  aim  to  counterfeit  that  which  is  good 
rather  than  suggest  what  is  obviously  and  wholly  evil. 

Satan,  who  led  this  defection  of  angels,  appears 
to  have  been  an  archangel,  endowed  with  great  wis¬ 
dom  and  power,  whose  very  excellence  inspired  the 
pride  which  led  to  his  downfall,  and  led  him  to  as¬ 
pire  to  the  throne  of  the  universe,  to  be  as  God. 

169 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


This  body  of  fallen  angels,  cotiiftioftly  referred  to 
as  “Devils,”  should  be  known  as  Demons,  for  there 
is  but  one  Devil,  and  the  Word  of  God  refers  to 
them  as  in  league,  as  powers  of  Darkness,  against 
God,  holy  angels  and  all  obedient  human  beings. 
There  are  two  opposing  hierarchies,  eternally  at  war  1 
Good  angels  in  alliance  with  God  and  all  saints,  to 
promote  all  that  is  good;  evil  demons,  confederate 
with  each  other  and  all  evil  men,  to  work  disaster 
and  ruin  and,  if  it  were  possible,  supplant  even  the 
Almighty.  These  demons  are  represented  as  the 
authors  and  abettors  of  all  evil  to  man's  body  and 
soul,  having  power  to  afflict  with  disease;  and,  as 
the  frequent  epithet,  “unclean,"  implies,  impart 
spiritual  pollution  also.  They  are  the  agents  of 
Satan,  in  his  work  of  evil,  subject  to  the  kingdom 
of  darkness,  and  doomed  to  its  condemnation. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  to  the  believing  student  of 
God’s  Word  that  they  are  real  beings.  All  modem 
attempts  to  make  out  that  the  Bible  merely  accom¬ 
modates  its  language  to  current  traditional  beliefs 
among  the  Jews  are  incompatible  with  the  plain 
and  uniform  attribution  of  personality,  with  all  its 
attributes  to  both  angels  and  demons,  just  as  much 
as  to  men  or  to  God ;  and,  if  carried  out  in  principle, 
such  methods  of  interpretation  must  destroy  the 
truth  and  honesty  of  Holy  Scripture  itself  (Smith's 
Bible  Dictionary,  vol.  I,  425). 

Satan  is  represented  as  the  head  of  all  fallen  an- 


The  Unseen  World  of  Spirits. 

gels  (Matthew  xii  124-30;  Mark  iii  122-30;  Luke 
xi  114-26 ;  Rev.  xvi:i4)  ;  and  they  are  angels  of  the 
Devil  (Matt.  xxv:4i;  Rev.  xii  17-9). 

These  demons  “believe  and  shudder”  in  terror  of 
coming  judgment;  they  recognize  and  confess  the 
deity  of  Christ  as  the  Son  of  God,  and  they  were 
exorcised  or  cast  out  of  those  possessed  by  them  by 
the  power  of  His  name.  They  had  a  strange  passion 
for  such  possession.  Why,  we  can  only  conjecture ; 
possibly  because  they  craved  the  control  of  bodily 
organs  to  work  greater  harm. 

Beyond  the  limits  of  all  matter,  and  even  those 
invisible  operations  of  the  human  mind  which  mani¬ 
fest  themselves  through  matter,  there  is  a  realm  of 
spirits,  so  far  as  we  know  independent  of  material 
forms  and  manifestations.  Over  this  realm  God 
is  supreme — the  eternal,  uncreated  Spirit.  Under 
Him  are  inferior  spirits.  There  is  a  vast  host  of 
'  these  spirits — “innumerable  angels  in  festal  assem¬ 
bly”  (Heb.  xii  122,  23).  Many  are  the  hints  of  their 
countless  number.  When  Peter  sought  to  defend 
his  Master  with  the  sword,  He  said,  “Thinkest  thou 
that  I  cannot  now  pray  to  my  Father,  and  He  shall 
presently  give  me  more  than  twelve  legions  of  an¬ 
gels?”  If  a  legion  was  six  thousand,  twelve  legions 
would  be  seventy-two  thousand ;  and  one  angel  of 
the  Lord  slew  in  one  night  185,000  Syrians !  Surely 
the  suffering  Son  of  man  needed  no  human  weapons 
to  be  unsheathed  in  His  defence.  Even  His  self¬ 
emptying  was  only  a  voluntary  suspension  of  His 

171 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


omnipotence.  He  chose  to  be  helpless,  and  had  only 
to  assert  His  authority  and  claim  His  rights  to  sum¬ 
mon  an  army  of  angels  to  His  side ! 

In  Revelation  v:ii,  the  number  of  them  is  "ten 
thousand  times  ten  thousand” — a  hundred  million — 
and  "thousands  of  thousands” — that  is  apparently 
another  multiple — the  hundred  million  multiplied  by 
millions  more — literally  "myriads  upon  myriads,  and 
chiliads  upon  chiliads” — a  vain  attempt  to  express 
in  human  language  a  countless  host  of  unfallen  an¬ 
gels,  standing  about  the  throne  of  God,  waiting  His 
will. 

To  this  spiritual  realm  man  is  closely  allied  by 
the  endowment  of  a  spiritual  nature.  As  his  soul- 
life,  or  psychic  nature,  allies  him  to  all  intelligence, 
his  higher  spirit-life  makes  him  akin  to  all  spiritual 
being,  and  even  to  God,  who  is  a  Spirit.  This  latter 
was  probably  the  image  and  likeness  of  God  in 
which  he  was  created. 

Man  is  therefore  especially  open  to  all  influences 
of  the  spirit  realm,  whether  good  or  bad.  Just  as 
his  bodily  organism  makes  him  susceptible  to  im¬ 
pressions  from  physical  nature,  and  his  animal  life 
and  intelligence  to  contact  with  all  forms  of  con¬ 
scious  life;  so  his  spiritual  being  responds  to  the 
unseen  approach  of  other  spirits,  who  are  as  dis¬ 
tinctly  personal  as  himself,  but  not  limited  to  sense 
channels  for  contact. 

Some  who  seek  to  improve  on  the  Bible  deny  the 
personality  of  the  Devil,  and  make  "Satan”  simply 

172 


The  Unseen  World  of  Spirits. 


a  name  for  a  bad  influence ,  whether  proceeding  from 
one’s  self  or  others.  But  such  views  must  find  sup¬ 
port  outside  of  Scripture.  In  at  least  six  places  in 
the  New  Testament  the  “world”  and  the  “flesh”  are 
distinguished  from  the  ‘“Devil”  ;*  and  everywhere 
in  Scripture  personal  attributes  and  activities  are 
ascribed  to  Satan  as  truly  as  to  any  other  being, 
human  or  divine.  To  identify  the  Devil  with  the 
world,  with  evil  men,  or  with  the  fleshly  nature  in 
man  is  to  introduce  hopeless  chaos  and  confusion. 

Man  is,  moreover,  represented  as  actually  more 
or  less  under  the  sway  of  the  good  Spirit  of  God 
and  other  good  spirits,  or  of  evil  spirits,  and  without 
exception  (Ephes.  ii:2,  3).  “The  spirit  that  now 
worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience”  is  “the 
prince  of  the  power  of  the  air”- — one  of  the  names 
of  the  Devil — and  “among  these  children  of  diso¬ 
bedience  we  all  once  had  our  life-course.”  Such  is 
the  plain  language  of  the  Word.  There  are,  in 
God’s  eyes,  only  two  great  classes  of  men:  sons  of 
obedience,  under  the  control  of  the  Spirit  of  God, 
and  sons  of  disobedience,  under  the  control  of  Satan 
and  the  spirits  of  evil.  This  is  a  humiliating  classi¬ 
fication,  but  it  is  God’s  own. 

Again,  the  Word  of  God  teaches  that  a  man  may 
be  swayed  by  more  than  one  evil  spirit  at  the  same 
time.  Out  of  Mary  Magdalene  our  Lord  “cast  out 
seven  demons” ;  the  man  out  of  whom  the  evil  spirit 

♦Compare  Ephes.  ii:2,  3;  vi:ii,  12;  1  John  11:14,  15,  16, 
etc. 

*7? 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


departed  was  reinhabited  by  the  same  demon,  who 
brought  back  with  him  seven  others,  more  wicked 
than  himself  (Matt,  xii  143-45 ).  When  the  two 
demoniacs  of  Gadara  gave  a  name  to  the  spirits 
possessing  them,  it  was  “Legion,  for  we  are  many” 
— and  they  may  have  been  permitted  to  go  out  into 
the  herd  of  swine — two  thousand — to  show  both 
their  multitude  and  their  malignity. 

In  matter,  the  law  of  impenetrability  forbids  two 
particles  to  occupy  the  same  space  at  once,  so  that 
a  nail,  driven  into  a  board,  must  crowd  other  parti¬ 
cles  into  closer  contact.  But,  as  spirits  occupy  no 
space,  no  such  law  obtains  in  the  spirit  realm,  but 
more  evasive  and  subtle  than  the  perfumes  of  thou¬ 
sands  of  flowers,  mingling  in  one  atmosphere,  yet 
leaving  room  for  thousands  of  new  odors,  spirits 
may  occupy  the  same  body  without  interference 
with  each  other. 

Every  unregenerate  man  is  a  territory  of  Satan, 
the  only  difference  being  in  the  extent  of  Satanic 
working.  In  some  unsaved  souls  it  is  a  partial  and 
hindered  working.  Conscience — a  godly  training — 
social  respectability — motives  of  worldly  policy — 
may  keep  one  from  entire  and  reckless  surrender  to 
Satanic  power;  but  he  works  in  all.  In  some  it  is 
operation ;  in  others,  occupation.  Few  facts  are 
taught  with  more  tremendous  significance  than  this, 
that  every  human  being’s  spiritual  nature  is  the 
haunt  and  home  of  spiritual  influences,  holy  or  un¬ 
holy,  benevolent  or  malignant. 

i74 


The  Unseen  World  of  Spirits. 


Evil  spirits  are  continually  on  the  alert  to  harm 
both  body  and  spirit — to  inflict  physical  evils,  and 
to  corrupt  intellectual  convictions  and  pervert  the 
heart’s  affection,  and  weaken  the  will — in  every  way 
to  lead  away  from  truth  and  God.  Their  one  busi¬ 
ness  is  to  provoke  and  promote  sinful  revolt  against 
the  Creator. 

No  greater  mystery  invests  the  spiritual  realm 
than  that  of  demon  possession.  A  Jewish  theory  is 
that,  when  the  angels  “kept  not  their  first  estate,” 
part  of  their  penalty  was  to  wander  henceforth 
through  space,  disembodied.  This,  of  course,  would 
lessen  greatly  their  capacity  to  do  harm,  as  they 
could  only  work  through  mental  suggestion,  but 
could  control  no  bodily  organs;  and  hence  their 
craving  to  possess  and  control  the  bodies  of  their 
victims,  making  use  of  their  bodily  powers  for  mis¬ 
chief.  If  so,  this  partly  explains  the  desire  of  the 
Legion  to  enter  into  the  herd  of  swine,  thinking  to 
infuriate  these  beasts  and  by  them  work  destruction, 
but  not  foreseeing  that  they  would  drive  them  into 
the  lake. 

The  Bible  traces  idolatry  to  demoniac  influence, 
and  makes  the  worshippers  of  false  gods,  worship¬ 
pers  of  “devils”  (i  Cor.  x:20,  21).  And  yet  Chris¬ 
tian  writers  and  speakers  can  flatter  the  Hindus  for 
their  sublime  “oriental  consciousness  of  God”  and 
salute  them  as  “brethren,”  while  they  worship  over 
three  hundred  millions  of  deities!  Behind  all  sys- 

175 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


terns  of  false  religion  and  idolatry  lies  the  influence 
of  the  Devil  and  evil  demons. 

“What  say  I  then?  that  the  idol  is  any  thing,  or 
that  which  is  offered  in  sacrifice  to  idols  is  any 
thing?  But  I  say,  that  the  things  which  the  Gen¬ 
tiles  sacrifice,  they  sacrifice  to  devils,  and  not  to 
God ;  and  I  would  not  that  ye  should  have  fellow¬ 
ship  with  devils.  Ye  cannot  drink  the  cup  of  the 
Lord,  and  the  cup  of  devils ;  ye  cannot  be  partakers 
of  the  Lord’s  table,  and  of  the  table  of  devils’’ 
(i  Cor.  x:  19-21). 

“Now  the  Spirit  speaketh  expressly,  that  in  the 
latter  times  some  shall  depart  from  the  faith,  giving 
heed  to  seducing  spirits,  and  doctrines  of  devils” 
(1  Timothy  iv :  1 ) . 

“And  the  rest  of  the  men  which  were  not  killed 
by  these  plagues  yet  repented  not  of  the  works  of 
their  hands,  that  they  should  not  worship  devils, 
and  idols  of  gold,  and  silver,  and  brass,  and  stone, 
and  of  wood;  which  neither  can  see,  nor  hear,  nor 
walk”  (Rev.  ix:2o). 

Thus  the  word  “devils”  (daimonia)  is  used  of  ob¬ 
jects  of  worship.  Even  while  admitting  that  an 
idol  is  nothing  in  the  world,  and  there  is  no  other 
god  but  one,  Paul  says  that  all  that  is  offered  in  sac¬ 
rifice  to  idols  is  offered  to  demons.  In  idolatry  we 
are  therefore  to  recognize  the  influence  of  demons 
at  work — agents  of  Satan,  who  is  their  chief  (Rev. 
xvi:i4). 

They  are  both  subjects  of  and  agents  of  the 

176 


The  Unseen  World  of  Spirits. 


kingdom  of  darkness,  and  doomed  to  its  condemna¬ 
tion,  and  they  are  sometimes  called  “the  Devil’s 
angels”  (Matt.  xxv:4i;  Rev.  xii:7~9). 

Satan’s  methods  with  men  are  marked  by  ex¬ 
treme  subtlety  and  awful  power. 

1.  He  deceives  the  understanding.  Like  a  mas¬ 
ter  optician,  he  uses  his  various  magnifying  and 
minifying  glasses.  He  makes  things  near  by  appear 
to  be  great  and  great  things  to  appear  small.  Paul 
compares  him  to  a  magician  who  by  sleight  of  hand 
and  cunning  craftiness  makes  the  eyes  the  fools  of 
the  other  senses,  so  that  he  makes  you  believe  that 
he  does  what  he  cannot  do. 

2.  He  allures  the  heart.  He  spreads  his  dainty 
bait  of  worldly  pleasure  and  makes  it  the  trap  for 
his  snares  to  entangle  the  feet.  The  powers  and 
capacities  of  loving  which  God  meant  for  the  noblest 
objects  are  degraded  to  what  is  unworthy  and  un¬ 
satisfying. 

3.  He  hardens  even  the  conscience.  He  bribes 
the  moral  sense  to  uphold  wrong  because  it  minis¬ 
ters  to  self-indulgence  and  temporary  pleasure,  and 
finally,  as  the  Word  of  God  expresses  it,  men  have 
their  conscience  seared  as  with  a  hot  iron.  There 
is  Satanic  hypnotism .  The  Prince  of  this  World  so 
attracts  the  fixed  gaze  of  his  victims  as  to  lull  them 
to  sleep,  by  his  soft  sayings  and  dazzling  visions, 
until  they  become  unconscious  of  any  other  world 
beyond,  hear  no  voice  calling  from  on  high,  and  are 
made  captives  of  him  at  his  will. 

177 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


Satan  hardens  the  heart  by  leading  one  to  con¬ 
tinuance  in  sin,  cherishing  unbelief,  neglecting  what 
are  called  Means  of  Grace  because  through  them 
as  channels  the  grace  of  God  commonly  works,  and 
habitually  postponing  performance  of  duty.  Even 
in  the  absence  of  flagrant  forms  of  wickedness,  a 
human  heart  may  become  so  hard  as  to  resist  all 
convictions  of  truth,  all  claims  of  duty  and  become 
fatally  insensible  to  all  the  approaches  and  appeals 
even  of  the  Love  of  God  (Heb.  iii:7~iv:n). 

The  Devil  himself  is  said  only  on  one  occasion  to 
have  entered  into  a  man — Judas  Iscariot.  The 
most  damnable  deed  of  all  history  was  to  be  done, 
and  he  would  trust  no  one  else  to  see  to  its  accom¬ 
plishment  (John  xiii:27).  But  evildoers  are  often 
judicially  abandoned  to  demon  influence,  as  when 
Jehovah  sent  an  evil  spirit  to  possess  Saul  (i  Sam. 
xvi:i4),  whose  paroxysms  of  murderous  rage  and 
hate  toward  David  are  traced  to  this  malign  posses¬ 
sion. 

On  the  other  hand,  good  spirits  and  unfallen  an¬ 
gels  are  entrusted  with  a  special  ministry  and  mis¬ 
sion  to  saints.  “The  angel  of  the  Lord  encampeth 
round  about  them  that  fear  Him,  and  delivereth 
them.”  May  it  not  be  that,  going  through  crowded 
thoroughfares,  and  exposed  to  countless  risks,  many 
escapes  and  deliverances  are  due  to  angelic  guards? 
They  came  to  comfort  and  minister  to  the  “Son  of 
man”  in  the  crises  of  temptation  and  agony,  and, 
could  we  but  see  clearly,  we  might  find  them  still 

178 


The  Unseen  World  of  Spirits. 


active  in  errands  of  consolation  and  instruction  to 
His  followers.  Particularly  do  they  appear  to  min¬ 
ister  to  dying  saints  (Heb.  i:i4),  and  we  are  told 
that  Lazarus  was  “carried  by  the  angels  to  Abra¬ 
ham's  bosom.”  What  a  funeral  procession  that 
was !  “The  rich  man  died  and  was  buried ” — noth¬ 
ing  is  said  about  any  stately  human  burial  for  the 
beggar— 

“Rattle  his  bones  over  the  stones ! 

He’s  only  a  pauper  whom  nobody  owns !” 

But,  beyond  the  limits  of  human  vision,  was  a  con¬ 
voy  of  angels  to  bear  him  to  his  celestial  abode — a 
funeral  cortege  indeed ! 

That  last  verse  of  the  opening  chapter  of  Hebrews 
asks,  “Are  they  not  all  ministering  spirits,  sent 
forth  to  be  of  service  to  them  who  are  just  about 
to  be  heirs  of  salvation?”  May  this  not  hint  that, 
just  as  the  exchange  of  worlds  is  about  to  be  made, 
their  ministry  is  specially  in  exercise?  And  may 
not  some  of  those  visions  of  glorified  beings,  which 
have  so  often  cheered  departing  saints,  as  the  veil 
parted  between  earth  and  heaven,  have  been 
glimpses  of  this  angelic  convoy? 

This  same  Word  of  God  encourages  us  by  the 
promise  that,  at  the  final  advent  of  our  Lord,  Satan 
himself  is  to  be  crippled  of  his  power  and  with  all 
his  hosts  overwhelmed  with  eternal  defeat.  This 
last  victory  is  reserved  for  the  crowning  glory  of 

179 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


His  Second  Coming,  and  in  it  every  redeemed  saint 
shall  share. 

This  brief  resume  of  Scripture  teaching  vindi¬ 
cates  the  statement  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter, 
that  the  Word  of  God  sets  forth  this  theme  in  a 
clear,  consistent  body  of  doctrine,  the  like  of  which 
can  nowhere  else  be  found  nor  any  approach  to  it. 

A  few  practical  inferences  may  still  claim  our 
attention. 

I.  We  must  properly  measure  our  great  adver¬ 
sary.  It  is  both  foolish  and  fatal  to  safety  to  be¬ 
little  the  subtlety  and  malignity  of  our  awful  foe. 
We  believe  him  to  outrank  all  other  created  beings ; 
and  there  is  one  description  which,  it  has  long  been 
thought,  can  be  applied  only  to  him. 

“Thus  saith  the  Lord  God:  Thou  sealest  up  the 
sum,  full  of  wisdom,  and  perfect  in  beauty.  Thou 
hast  been  in  Eden,  the  garden  of  God ;  every  pre¬ 
cious  stone  was  thy  covering,  the  sardius,  topaz,  and 
the  diamond,  the  beryl,  the  onyx,  and  the  jasper, 
the  sapphire,  the  emerald,  and  the  carbuncle,  and 
gold;  the  workmanship  of  thy  tabrets  and  of  thy 
pipes  was  prepared  in  thee  in  the  day  that  thou 
wast  created.  Thou  art  the  anointed  cherub  that 
covereth ;  and  I  have  set  thee  so ;  thou  wast  upon 
the  holy  mountain  of  God ;  thou  hast  walked  up  and 
down  in  the  midst  of  the  stones  of  fire.  Thou  wast 
perfect  in  thy  ways  from  the  day  that  thou  wast 
created,  till  iniquity  was  found  in  thee.  By  the 
multitude  of  thy  merchandise  they  have  filled  the 

180 


The  Unseen  World  of  Spirits. 


midst  of  thee  with  violence,  and  thou  hast  sinned; 
therefore,  I  will  cast  thee  as  profane  out  of  the 
mountain  of  God :  and  I  will  destroy  thee,  O  cover¬ 
ing  cherub,  from  the  midst  of  the  stones  of  fire. 
Thine  heart  was  lifted  up  because  of  thy  beauty, 
thou  hast  corrupted  thy  wisdom  by  reason  of  thy 
brightness:  I  will  cast  thee  to  the  ground,  I  will 
lay  thee  before  kings,  that  they  may  behold  thee. 
Thou  hast  defiled  thy  sanctuaries  by  the  multitude 
of  thy  iniquities,  by  the  iniquity  of  thy  traffic; 
therefore  will  I  bring  forth  a  fire  from  the  midst  of 
thee,  it  shall  devour  thee,  and  I  will  bring  thee  to 
ashes  upon  the  earth  in  the  sight  of  all  them  that 
behold  thee.  All  they  that  know  thee  among  the 
people  shall  be  astonished  at  thee:  thou  shalt  be  a 
terror,  and  never  shalt  thou  be  any  more”  (Ezekiel 
xxviii :  12-19). 

These  words  are  addressed  to  the  “King  of  Ty- 
rus”— -which  probably  should  read,  “tutelary  god  of 
Tyrus.”  But,  however  applied,  many  phrases  con¬ 
tained  in  this  marvelous  apostrophe  could  apply  to 
no  human  being — such  as  “full  of  wisdom,  perfect 
in  beauty”;  “thou  hast  been  in  Eden”;  “thou  art 
the  anointed  cherub  that  covereth” — an  apparent 
reference  to  the  cherub’s  wings  as  covering  the  altar 
of  God,  etc. 

Taken  as  a  description  of  the  original  and  un¬ 
fallen  dignity,  beauty  and  glory  .of  Satan,  this  is 
one  of  the  great  glimpses  given  in  divine  Revelation 
of  the  inconceivable  majesty  and  greatness  of  the 

181  ' 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


great  adversary.  How  utterly  false  and  misleading 
all  those  travesties  and  caricatures  of  the  truth  that 
represent  the  Devil  as  half  man  and  half  beast — a 
mongrel  and  monster,  with  horns  and  hoofs  and 
forked  tail!  How  little  his  slaves  and  victims  un¬ 
derstand  his  capacity  to  transform  himself  into  an 
angel  of  light !  And  how  little  do  even  saints  appre¬ 
ciate  the  fact  that  nothing  short  of  a  complete  pano¬ 
ply  of  God,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  to  enable  us  to 
wear  and  wield  it,  can  make  us  strong  enough  to 
stand  before  such  a  foe! 

We  are  to  think  of  Satan  as  a  Magnificent  Being 
— great  in  knowledge,  power  and  wisdom — next  to 
the  Son  of  God,  whom  for  that  very  reason  he 
sought  to  rival  and  even  corrupt  and  destroy — as 
doing  things  evil  on  a  grand  scale,  and  as  a  master 
in  the  art  of  dissembling.  He  imitates  everything — 
prayer  by  forms  without  the  spirit;  almsgiving  by 
selfish  donations  which  promote  personal  glory — 
humility  by  hypocrisy ;  even  defence  of  the  faith  by 
a  zeal  without  knowledge.  He  has  his  theological 
schools,  where,  under  the  cloak  of  scholasticism, 
rationalism  is  taught,  and  his  churches,  which  are  in 
God’s  eyes  synagogues  of  Satan. 

The  Devil  has  been  dealing  'in  shams  ever  since 
he  began  the  business  in  Eden.  His  method  is 
“wiles”  and  “lies,”  and  part  of  his  wiles  consists  in 
disguising  lies.  He  approaches  man  with  half- 
truths,  plausible  apologies  for  disobedience,  and  so 
skillful  are  his  devices  that  he  can  make  vice  appear 

182 


The  Unseen  World  of  Spirits. 


as  virtue  and  wrong  as  right,  veiling  formalism 
with  the  show  of  devotion,  and  heartless  externalism 
with  the  show  of  piety.  He  imposes  on  men  by  a 
form  of  godliness  which  utterly  denies  its  power, 
and  so  imitates  truth  and  goodness  and  counterfeits 
the  gospel  of  grace  as  to  deceive,  if  possible,  the  very 
elect.  Probably  even  antichrist  will  not  be  the  open 
foe  of  God  and  Christ,  so  much  as  a  deceptive  coun¬ 
terpart,  imitating  the  person  and  work  of  the  Son 
of  God,  even  to  the  point  of  “prophecies,”  and  ‘‘mira¬ 
cles  of  falsehood/’  assuming  the  form  and  disguise 
of  an  angel  of  light. 

We  must  not  be  surprised,  therefore,  if  his  min¬ 
isters  cloak  abominable  heresies,  and  denials  of  the 
Lord  that  bought  them,  in  attractive  rhetoric,  false 
liberalism  and  winning  manners.  Satan  is  too  wise 
and  subtle  to  pose  as  a  blasphemer  and  profligate. 
He  showed  in  the  desert  temptation  what  a  master 
he  was  even  in  quoting  Scripture  and  making  diso¬ 
bedience  seem  lawful,  counterfeiting  dependence  on 
God  by  independence  of  Him,  faith  by  presumption, 
and  loyalty  by  compromise.  We  must  expect  the 
heresies  and  iniquities  of  the  last  days  to  parade  in 
the  white  robes  of  charity  and  piety.  But,  however 
respectable  the  guise,  he  is  our  enemy  and  God’s 
who  denies  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

2.  It  is,  therefore,  of  immense  importance  to 
learn  how  to  detect  and  discern  the  sources  of  all 
suggestion,  and  discriminate  as  to  their  true  char- 

183 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


acter.  Even  a  Christian  disciple  must  not  be  heed¬ 
less  and  self-confident. 

“Beloved,  believe  not  every  spirit,  but  try  the 
spirits  whether  they  are  of  God ;  because  many  false 
prophets  are  gone  out  into  the  world.  Hereby 
know  ye  the  Spirit  of  God:  Every  spirit  that  con¬ 
fessed!  that  Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh  is  of 
God.  And  every  spirit  that  confesseth  not  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh,  is  not  of  God:  and 
this  is  that  spirit  of  antichrist,  whereof  ye  have 
heard  that  it  should  come ;  and  even  now  already  is 
it  in  the  world”  (i  John  iv:i*3). 

In  Matthew  xvi:2i -23  we  have  a  startling  ex¬ 
ample  : 

“From  that  time  forth  began  Jesus  to  shew  unto 
his  disciples  how  that  he  must  go  unto  Jerusalem, 
and  suffer  many  things  of  the  elders  and  chief 
priests  and  scribes,  and  be  killed,  and  be  raised 
again  the  third  day.  Then  Peter  took  him,  and 
began  to  rebuke  him,  saying,  Be  it  far  from  thee. 
Lord:  this  shall  not  be  unto  thee.  But  he  turned, 
and  said  unto  Peter,  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan; 
thou  art  an  offence  unto  me;  for  thou  savorest  not 
the  things  that  be  of  God,  but  those  that  be  of  men.” 

At  one  moment  Simon  Peter,  marvelously  moved 
by  the  Spirit  of  God,  gave  utterance  to  those  words 
of  confession:  “We  believe  and  are  sure  that  Thou 
art  that  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  Living  God,  that 
should  come  into  the  world.”  That  became  the  rock 
basis  of  all  Christian  creeds ;  but,  straightway  after, 

184 


The  Unseen  World  of  Spirits. 


he  was  so  moved  by  Satan  as  to  suggest  to  Christ 
to  spare  Himself  by  avoiding  the  cross,  and  thus,  for 
the  moment,  became  the  mouthpiece  of  Satan.  And 
not  least  significant  is  it  that  in  neither  case  was  he 
conscious  of  being  controlled  by  either  the  Spirit  of 
God  or  the  spirit  of  the  Devil — showing  how  subtly 
both  the  Spirit  of  God  and  the  spirit  of  evil  work, 
possessing  and  controlling  the  human  so  that  there 
is  no  consciousness  of  any  foreign  influence. 

3.  We  must  beware  how  we  intrude  unlawfully 
into  the  spirit  realm. 

To  lift  the  veil  and  penetrate  the  unseen  is  one 
of  the  greatest  of  human  temptations,  and  against 
it  God’s  people  are  warned — prohibited  from  all 
intercourse  with  spirits. 

“There  shall  not  be  found  among  you  any  one 
that  maketh  his  son  or  his  daughter  to  pass  through 
the  fire,  or  that  useth  divination,  or  an  observer  of 
times,  or  an  enchanter,  or  a  witch,  or  a  charmer, 
or  a  consulter  with  familiar  spirits,  or  a  wizard,  or 
a  necromancer.  For  all  that  do  these  things  are  an 
abomination  unto  the  Lord:  and  because  of  these 
abominations  the  Lord  thy  God  doth  drive  them  out 
from  before  thee.  Thou  shalt  be  perfect  with  the 
Lord  thy  God.  For  these  nations,  which  thou  shalt 
possess,  hearkened  unto  observers  of  times,  and  unto 
diviners:  but  as  for  thee,  the  Lord  thy  God  hath 
not  suffered  thee  so  to  do”  (Deut.  xviii:io-i4). 

The  command  is  most  comprehensive.  Observers 
of  times,  who  pretend  to  foretell  by  the  clouds  and 

185 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


plants — enchanters:  diviners  by  means  of  serpents, 
flight  of  birds,  entrails  of  beasts ;  witches,  who  used 
magical  incantations,  fumigations,  etc. ;  charmers, 
with  spells,  tying  knots,  peculiar  conjunction  of 
words,  and  all  consulters  with  familiar  spirits — the 
pythoness,  the  necromancer,  who  seeks  inquiries  of 
the  dead.  This  is  an  expansion  of  briefer  com¬ 
mands  in  Exodus  xxii:i8;  Lev.  xix:26*3i;  xx:26, 
27;  Numbers  xxiii:23;  2  Chron.  xxxiii:6,  and  many 
other  places.  So  long  ago  as  when  the  Hebrews 
encamped  at  Sinai,  all  these  modern  practices  were 
in  vogue,  and  upon  them  all  God  set  the  stamp  and 
brand  of  His  positive  prohibition. 

This  same  Word  of  God,  therefore,  which  thus 
unveils  this  mysterious  realm,  discourages  and  for¬ 
bids  all  curious  investigation  into  its  secrets,  through 
divination,  familiar  spirits,  etc.  Its  prohibitions  are 
both  explicit  and  repeated  with  emphasis.  Yet  how 
many  who  claim  to  be  disciples  dabble  with  these 
mysteries ! 

These  prohibitions  include  the  “curious  arts”  used 
by  the  magi  of  Ephesus  (Acts  xix).  Prognostica¬ 
tion  by  observing  clouds,  birds,  entrails,  currents  of 
wind  and  water ;  those  who  hissed  like  serpents, 
practiced  ventriloquism,  fascinated  by  the  glance, 
hypnotized  and  mesmerized,  practiced  magical  in¬ 
cantations  and  hallucinations  in  the  interests  of 
superstition,  bound  others  by  magic  spells  and  mys¬ 
tic  knots,  consulted  with  the  dead  and  evil  spirits, 
dealt  in  prodigies  and  false  prophecies,  astrology, 

186 


The  Unseen  World  of  Spirits. 


palmistry — this  first  full  prohibition  covers  at  least 
ten  forms  of  occult  practices.  Will  any  one  show  us 
one  substantial  benefit  accruing  to  the  race  from 
any  attempts  to  invade  this  forbidden  realm,  even 
scientifically,  which  begins  to  overbalance  the  sad 
wrecks  of  body  and  spirit,  that  lie  all  along  the 
shores  of  this  Mare  Tenebrum ! 

For  such  prohibitions  in  scripture  human  history 
furnishes  manifold  reason.  All  attempts  to  enter 
this  Forbidden  Realm  save  in  one  way,  by  com¬ 
munion  with  God,  have  proved  dangerous,  if  not 
fatal  to  spiritual  life,  and  sometimes  even  to  sanity. 

Among  the  reasons  for  this  prohibition  are  the  fol¬ 
lowing  : 

1.  The  difficulty  of  discerning  the  character  of 
spirits ; 

2.  The  danger  of  being  misled  by  half  truths  into 
grave  errors; 

3.  The  supernatural  power  with  which  demons 
are  invested  (Acts  xix)  ; 

4.  The  danger  of  a  visionary  and  unpractical 
curiosity;  “curious  arts.” 

5.  The  weird  and  mysterious  nature  of  the  whole 
Realm ; 

6.  The  impossibility  of  any  thorough  investiga¬ 
tion; 

7.  The  historical  argument  in  the  actual  results 
of  such  practices ; 

8.  The  actual  influence,  especially  in  promoting 
and  developing  insanity. 

187 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

This  realm  of  spirits  is,  by  its  very  nature,  the  most 
subtle,  deceptive,  elusive  and  dangerous  of  all 
spheres  of  the  universe,  and  wields  an  influence 
whose  power  and  malignity  cannot  be  fittingly  de¬ 
scribed.  Evil  spirits,  being  disembodied  and  unseen, 
can  intrude,  unconsciously  to  us,  into  the  very  arcana 
of  our  being,  and  there  work  as  fertile  sources  of 
evil  suggestion,  kindling  passions,  desires  and  re¬ 
solves,  inimical  both  to  God  and  man. 

When  human  beings  begin  to  depart  from  Chris¬ 
tian  truth  as  revealed  in  the  Word  of  God,  and  dab¬ 
ble  in  the  mysteries  of  the  unseen,  on  their  own  ac¬ 
count,  there  is  no  extreme  of  absurdity  to  which 
they  will  not  go. 

Some  one  has  well  asked,  as  to  “Christian  Sci¬ 
ence/'  “How  can  there  be  any  value  in  an  Atone¬ 
ment  which  is  not  an  atonement,  connected  with 
suffering  which  is  not  suffering,  in  a  body  which  is 
not  a  body,  offered  in  expiation  for  sin  which  is  not 
sin?” — a  question  worthy  the  attention  of  adherents 
of  that  strange  system  of  paradoxes  and  platitudes. 

Professor  Austin  Phelps  in  his  volume  on  “Men 
and  Books,”  says :  “In  a  certain  parish  in  Mas¬ 
sachusetts,  spiritualism  had  stolen  a  march.  Start¬ 
ing  with  a  fortune  teller,  it  crept  into  a  group  of 
respectable  families.  An  educated  physician  gave 
it  prestige.  Seances  were  held  every  fortnight. 
Soon  Dr.  Channing  and  Benjamin  Franklin  began 
to  dance  on  the  tipping  tables.  The  intermediate 
state  and  eternal  retribution  were  revised.  Several 

1 88 


The  Unseen  World  of  Spirits. 


church  members  dropped  their  ancient  faith  at  the 
bidding  of  the  ghosts  of  their  grandmothers.  Their 
pastor,  when  inquired  of  about  the  still  revolution 
which  was  going  on  in  his  parish,  scouted  it  because 
of  its  origin.  He  was  preaching  that  winter  upon 
the  parables  of  our  Lord.  He  could  not  descend 
from  so  lofty  a  height  to  contend  with  the  twaddle 
of  the  seances.  But  his  people  could.  Ought  he 
not  to  have  followed  them?  Ought  he  not  to  have 
known  what  they  were  thinking  of  and  talking  of, 
and  whither  they  were  drifting  under  the  lead  of 
the  skeptical  physician?  Christianity  never  stands 
on  its  dignity.” 

To  meddle  with  this  awful  realm  of  spirits  may 
bring  us  under  the  sway  of  malignant  supernatural 
agents  and  forces.  Not  only  God,  but  wicked  spirits 
wield  weapons  which,  to  us,  are  superhuman  and 
supernatural,  because  alike  beyond  our  knowledge 
and  control.  Hence  (in  Rev.  xvi:i4)  the  “spirits 
of  demons”  are  represented  as  “working  miracles.” 
The  Devil,  belonging  to  created  intelligences  of  the 
highest  order,  can  sway  man  by  powers  which  be¬ 
long  to  a  higher  realm ;  and  to  dare  to  invade  those 
forbidden  precincts  is  to  venture  into  an  unknown 
territory,  and  run  corresponding  risks,  risks  which 
are  proportionate  to  the  success  of  our  experi¬ 
ments  ! 

While  admitting  demonic  power  to  work  wonders, 
the  Word  of  God  implies  no  proper  parallel  with  the 
wonder  working  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  We  may 

189 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


not  be  able  always  to  distinguish  by  appearances, 
but  it  is  because  of  our  ignorance  and  incompetency 
to  deal  with  such  mysteries.  Investigation  into  such 
a  realm  is  perilous  on  account  of  our  blindness  to 
our  danger,  and  the  subtlety  of  the  foes  and  forces 
to  which  we  expose  ourselves. 

Moreover,  such  researches  never  reach  certainty 
of  result.  Outside  of  God’s  word,  we  can  only  con¬ 
jecture  ;  certainties  evade  us,  even  a  safe  conclusion 
lacks  confirmation.  Our  so-called  discoveries  never 
become  certainties.  We  are  exploring  a  realm  of 
phantoms  and  shadows. 

These  perils  are  historical .  “Psychic  research,” 
however  it  may  assume  a  scientific  guise,  has  never 
led  to  any  beneficial  goal — it  has  promoted  vague 
and  visionary  notions,  and  a  dreamy  life,  and  some¬ 
times  landed  men  in  insanity.  It  is  also  a  significant 
fact  that  for  some  reason  those  who  become  familiar 
with  spirit  phenomena  often  wander  into  immorality 
and  sensuality.  It  is  well  known  that  spiritualism 
has  helped  stock  asylums  with  insane  patients,  and 
broken  up  pure  family  life  by  new  “spiritual  affini¬ 
ties.”  All  unbiblical  practices  somehow  entail  disas¬ 
ter.  A  notable  convert  from  spiritualistic  ranks  has 
described  it  as  “one-half  fraud  and  the  other  half 
devil.” 

How  far  demoniacal  possession  is  a  present  fact, 
we  may  not  say.* 

*Dr.  Nevis,  “Demon  Possession  and  Allied  Themes.” 
“Pastor  Hsi,”  by  Mrs.  Howard  Taylor. 


The  Unseen  World  of  Spirits. 


In  conversation  with  a  man  who  had  been  con¬ 
verted  from  the  depths  of  drunkenness,  he  made  the 
startling  statement  that  it  was  his  conviction  that 
delirium  tremens  is  a  possession  by  demons ;  and  his 
argument  was  that,  in  almost  if  not  quite  all  cases, 
the  victim’s  visions  take  certain  shapes — he  is  sur¬ 
rounded  by  frightful  or  loathsome  animals,  has  terri¬ 
ble  and  ghastly  visions  of  serpents  and  vipers  that 
coil  about  him  and  sting  him;  is  burned  by  livid 
flames,  is  pursued  by  murderers ;  the  patient  is  gen¬ 
erally  filled  with  fear  and  terror,  and  cannot  be  per¬ 
suaded  he  is  not  the  prey  of  demons,  and  even 
harmless  animals  that  may  happen  to  be  about  him 
are  transformed  into  demoniac  shapes. 

The  Word  of  God  refers  to  certain  offenders  as 
being  “delivered  over  to  Satan  that  they  may  learn 
not  to  blaspheme”  (i  Tim.  i:2o). 

What  this  means  we  may  not,  at  this  distance  of 
time,  confidently  say.  But  a  few  authentic  modern 
cases  of  a  very  remarkable  nature  may  perhaps  serve 
to  give  some  hint  of  the  awful  danger  of  being 
given  over  by  God  to  Satanic  control. 

For  the  first  Dr.  Horatius  Bonar  is  responsible. 
It  took  place  at  Warsaw,  in  Russian  Poland.  A  bold 
young  scoffer  scouted  the  idea  that  there  is  any  such 
thing  as  sin.  Whereupon  an  old  Polish  Jew  offered 
the  blasphemer  twenty-five  roubles — ( £.3)  if  he 
would  make  a  contract  to  take  upon  himself  the 
whoie  burden  of  his  sins.  The  reckless  scoffer  made 

191 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


the  bargain  and  the  price  was  paid.  But  soon  after 
he  became  strangely  ill,  and  no  remedy  could  reach 
him.  At  last  he  confessed  that  it  was  his  blas¬ 
phemous  bargain  that  was  the  load  upon  him.  The 
old  Jew  was  offered  1,000  roubles,  to  cancel  or  undo 
the  bargain,  but  stubbornly  refused,  and  the  scoffer 
sank  under  his  self-assumed  load. 

Another  startling  incident  belongs  to  American 
history.  A  western  village  was  founded  by  German 
infidels  upon  the  very  cornerstone  of  denial  of  God, 
and  every  effort  made  to  keep  out  everything  Chris¬ 
tian.  A  mock  procession  was  conducted  in  the 
streets  to  hold  up  Christ  to  ridicule  and  a  mock 
Lord’s  Supper  celebrated  around  a  stuffed  effigy  of 
the  blessed  Redeemer.  That  village  has  been  de¬ 
stroyed  at  least  three  times — once  by  fire,  once  by 
tornado,  and  once  by  the  Indians ;  and  in  the  last 
case  the  principal  sufferers — the  first  that  died  by 
the  tomahawk  were  the  very  men  that  led  that  blas¬ 
phemous  procession — mimicked  the  Apostolic  com¬ 
pany. 

Within  ten  miles  of  a  house  where  I  lived,  some 
young  men  met  on  a  certain  night  in  a  hall.  They 
said,  “Here  we  are,  thirteen,  let  us  celebrate  the 
Lord’s  Supper.”  After  an  hour’s  revelry  over  wine 
and  viands,  they  made  a  travesty  of  the  Lord’s  Sup^ 
per.  Before  six  o’clock  in  the  morning  the  leader 
was  dead,  and  every  other  man  in  that  company  was 
down  with  a  disease  that  threatened  his  life.  It  is  a 


192 


The  Unseen  World  of  Spirits. 


dangerous  thing  either  to  meddle  with  the  malignant 
spirits  of  the  unseen  world,  or  to  treat  with  ridicule 
the  glories  and  verities  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Beware!  for  God  is  not  dead! 


193 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  SALVATION. 

Again  we  lay  a  biblical  basis  for  what  follows: 

Thou  shalt  call  his  name  Jesus;  for  he  shall  save 
his  people  from  their  sins.  Matthew  i:2i. 

Unto  you  is  born  this  day,  in  the  city  of  David,  a 
Saviour,  which  is  Christ  the  Lord.  Luke  ii :  10-14. 

Let  -all  the  house  of  Israel  know  assuredly,  that 
God  hath  made  that  same  Jesus  whom  ye  have  cruci¬ 
fied,  both  Lord  and  Christ.  Acts  ii  136. 

The  word  of  faith,  which  we  preach:  That  if 
thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth  the  Lord  Jesus, 
and  shalt  believe  in  thine  heart  that  God  hath  raised 
him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved.  Romans 
x:9. 

We  preach  not  ourselves,  but  Christ  Jesus  the 
Lord;  and  ourselves  your  servants  for  Jesus*  sake. 
2  Corinth,  iv  15. 

And  that  every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father.  Phil- 
ippians  ii :ii. 

In  these  six  texts  the  common  peculiarity  is  that 
they  all  contain  one  or  more  of  three  significant 
names,  applied  in  the  New  Testament  to  the  person 
and  work  of  the  Messiah :  “JESUS,**  “CHRIST,” 
“LORD.** 

These  three  names  are  so  exhaustive  that  to  mas- 

194 


The  Problem  of  Salvation. 


ter  their  meaning  is  to  understand  the  whole  scope 
of  His  great  work  of  Redemption.  In  the  text, 
quoted  from  Luke,  these  names  follow  the  historic 
order,  outlining  the  actual  progress  of  redemptive 
experience.  Their  significance  and  order  are  in  every 
case  important,  for  they  unlock  the  mystery  of  sal¬ 
vation,  and  singularly  illustrate  the  divine  skill  with 
which,  in  so  narrow  a  compass,  the  Author  of  the 
Scriptures  comprehends  truths  that,  like  many  of 
His  creative  marvels,  demand  microscopic  examina¬ 
tion  to  reveal  their  real  beauty. 

Two  announcements  of  the  Birth  of  our  Lord  are 
recorded — one  to  Joseph,  before  the  event,  the  other 
to  the  shepherds  immediately  after  it;  and  both  are 
made  by  that  august  personage  “The  Angel  of  the 
Lord.”  The  two  announcements,  taken  together, 
are  scarcely  paralleled  even  in  Scripture,  as  thus  sup¬ 
plying,  in  the  fewest  possible  words,  the  clue  to  the 
whole  problem  of  salvation. 

The  pre-announcement  gives  a  general,  compre¬ 
hensive  statement  of  the  main,  central  purpose  of 
the  advent  of  “Jesus”  He  shall  save  His  people 
from  their  sins — not  their  penalties  or  judicial  con¬ 
sequences  only,  but  their  sins  themselves — their  pol¬ 
lution,  power  and  even  presence.  In  the  post¬ 
announcement,  the  threefold  name,  “Saviour,” 
“Christ,”  “Lord,”  reveals  the  threefold  aspect  of  the 
character  and  work  of  the  Godman,  and  the  suc¬ 
cessive  stages  in  its  progressive  development. 

"Jesus,”  “Saviour” — the  human  name — points  to 

195 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


His  work  as  a  vicarious  substitute  for  sinners — an 
atoning  Saviour.  It  reminds  of  the  Cross;  that,  as 
Peter  says,  “He  bare  our  sins  in  His  own  body  on 
the  tree;”  or,  as  Paul  expresses  it,  “When  we  were 
enemies  we  were  reconciled  to  God  by  the  death  of 
His  Son.” 

“Christ” — the  Anointed  One — the  Messianic 
name,  points  to  His  reception,  possession  and  trans¬ 
mission  of  the  Holy  Spirit  without  measure;  and 
hence,  to  that  part  of  His  saving  work,  accomplished 
in  the  believer  by  the  impartation  of  the  Spirit  of 
Grace,  as  an  indwelling  Presence  and  Power — a 
truth,  briefly  expressed  in  Romans  viii:2.  “The 
Law  of  the  Spirit  of  Life  in  Christ  Jesus  hath  made 
me  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death.” 

“Lord” — or  sovereign — the  Jehovah  name — car¬ 
ries  the  idea  of  personal  rule.  It  points  to  His  Sec¬ 
ond  Advent,  when  He  establishes  the  throne  of  His 
Kingdom,  and  identifies  His  people  with  His  final 
conquest;  when  He  shall  put  all  enemies  under  His 
feet,  and  God  shall  be  All  in  All. 

Thus  these  three  names  represent  as  many  grand 
stages  in  salvation.  As  Jesus,  by  His  Death  and 
Resurrection,  He  saves  His  people  from  their  sins, 
as  to  their  guilt,  penalty  and  condemnation.  As 
Christ,  He  imparts  to  them  the  Holy  Spirit — the  very 
life  of  God,  to  work  in  them  mightily,  both  to  will 
and  to  do,  thus  supplying  a  power  within,  as  the 
antidote  and  counteractive  to  the  power  of  the 
world,  the  flesh,  and  the  Devil.  As  Lord  and  King, 

196 


The  Problem  of  Salvation. 


He  finally  destroys  all  remaining  foes,  even  the  Devil 
and  Death,  raising  His  people  from  the  dead,  and 
clothing  them  with  final  and  glorious  perfection.  It 
can  be  no  accident  that  thus,  the  very  first  authorita¬ 
tive  announcement,  by  the  Angel  of  the  Lord,  of  the 
Birth  of  God’s  appointed  Saviour,  outlines  in  these 
few,  short,  simple  words,  applied  to  Him  as  names, 
the  whole  plan  and  progressive  history  of  salvation, 
and  in  the  exact  order  in  which  He  accomplishes  and 
develops  it.  (Compare  Peter’s  sermon,  Acts  ii  136.) 

To  get  this  more  fully  in  mind  and  appreciate  the 
gravity  and  importance  of  this  threefold  announce¬ 
ment,  it  is  needful  first  to  understand  the  enormous 
threefold  harrier  which  stood  in  the  way  of  man's 
salvation. 

To  begin  with,  the  Race  was  sunk  in  a  double 
ruin:  first,  by  nature,  in  a  state  of  alienation  from 
God,  under  control  of  a  lawless  disposition;  and, 
second,  under  condemnation  for  sin  and  actual  guilt. 

Again,  there  was  a  host  of  evil  spirits,  with  Satan 
at  their  head,  possessing  and  controlling  fallen  men, 
by  inward  suggestion  and  outward  temptation,  using 
the  world  and  the  flesh  as  their  allies. 

And,  finally,  what  Paul  calls  “The  Bondage  of 
Corruption,”  which  holds  the  body  as  well  as  the 
spirit  under  its  sway,  putting  restraint  and  limita¬ 
tion  upon  the  attainments  and  achievements  even  of 
the  most  self-surrendered  servant  of  God,  and  in 
some  way  involving  the  whole  material  creation 
(Rom.  viii). 


197 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life, 


The  first  of  these  conditions  needs  and  demands 
some  way  of  Reconciliation  with  God;  the  second, 
Regeneration  of  spirit ,  or  a  new  and  divine  Life, 
dwelling  and  working  within ;  the  third,  Reconstruc¬ 
tion  of  character ,  nothing  less  than  a  re-creation, 
making  all  things  new.  In  this  divine  scheme  of  sal¬ 
vation  all  these  demands  are  fully  met:  the  first,  at 
Calvary;  the  second,  at  Pentecost;  the  last,  at  the 
Second  Coming. 

At  the  Cross ,  the  believing  sinner  becomes  by  faith 
so  one  with  Jesus,  as  his  vicarious  substitute  and 
Saviour,  that,  in  Him,  the  penalty  of  his  sin  is  ju¬ 
dicially  paid  and  he  is  reconciled  to  God.  At  Pente¬ 
cost,  the  Holy  Spirit  given,  thus  makes  the  saved 
sinner  to  become  a  partaker  of  the  Divine  Nature. 
Here  is  a  second  substitution — the  Spirit  of  God 
entering  within  and  displacing  the  spirit  of  evil  and 
disobedience,  as  the  controlling  power  over  the  in¬ 
ward  life.  Then,  at  the  Second  Coming,  there  will 
be  a  third  substitution — Christ  as  perfect  Lord  of 
Lords  and  King  of  Kings,  displacing  all  other  rulers 
of  this  world  and  bringing  in  a  state  of  perfection 
instead  of  an  imperfect  and  partial  condition  in  the 
spiritual,  and  even  the  material,  realm. 

The  wonder  of  all  this  only  grows  as  it  is  studied 
the  more.  When  a  sinner  is  first  brought  to  con¬ 
sciousness  of  guilt  and  condemnation,  he  feels  that, 
between  him  and  God,  there  is  a  “great  gulf  fixed,” 
which  no  human  works  can  bridge ;  and  over  which 
chasm  of  moral  separation,  neither  God  can  pass  to 

198 


Ine  Problem  of  Salvation. 


him  in  mercy,  nor  he  to  God,  in  reconciliation.  But, 
in  the  gospel,  he  learns  that  a  living  Mediator — 
the  Godman — in  his  own  person,  bridges  that  gulf, 
somewhat  as  at  the  fire  in  the  Iroquois  Theatre  in 
Chicago,  a  human  hero  actually  stretched  his  own 
body  from  the  burning  building  to  another  near  by, 
over  which  living  bridge  scores  of  people  passed  in 
safety,  though  it  cost  him  his  own  life ! 

But  even  the  forgiven  and  reconciled  believer  finds, 
in  his  inner  self,  tendencies  to  evil,  lusts  and  passions 
too  strong  for  absolute  control,  and  yearns  for  full 
deliverance  from  the  power  of  sin  as  well  as  its 
penalty.  He  finds  a  divine  provision  made  for  this 
also.  The  Holy  Spirit  of  God  actually  descends  and 
dwells  in  him,  makes  his  body  His  temple,  and 
prompts  to  all  that  is  good.  A  new  order  of  “lusts” 
or  overmastering  desires,  henceforth  sway  him,  con¬ 
trary  to  the  lusts  of  the  flesh  (Gal.  v.17).  These 
“lusts  of  the  Spirit”  are  spiritual  and  heavenly,  not 
carnal  and  earthly ;  divine,  not  devilish ;  and,  as  the 
lower  lusts  come  up  from  beneath,  to  overcome  his 
higher  nature  and  drag  him  down,  so  these,  coming 
from  above,  subdue  his  lower  nature  and  lift  up  his 
whole  being  to  a  loftier  level. 

Then,  at  last,  comes  the  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
the  new  creation,  when  there  is  a  final  and  complete 
sundering  of  all  connection  between  the  carnal  and 
the  spiritual.  The  life-long  conflict  is  henceforth  and 
forever  at  an  end.  “The  body  of  our  humiliation” 
is  now  exchanged  for  “the  body  of  His  glory.”  Sin 

199 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

is  finally  cast  out  and  eliminated,  and  Death,  the  last 
enemy,  is  destroyed,  and  the  Devil  no  longer  per¬ 
mitted  to  harass  and  annoy.  Even  the  material 
creation  is  reconstructed,  a  new  Heavens  and  a  new 
Earth  taking  the  place  of  the  present  order,  upon 
which  are  everywhere  found  the  signs  of  the  curse. 
Every  thorn  and  thistle  that  grow  on  the  soil,  every 
stormcloud  and  lightning  flash  in  the  sky,  every 
microbe  and  germ  of  disease  in  air  and  water ;  every 
earthquake,  tempest  and  tornado — all  these  repre¬ 
sent  the  virus  and  venom  of  the  serpent,  pervading 
even  creation.  But,  in  the  new  creation,  wherein 
dwelleth  Righteousness,  all  these  will  disappear ; 
moral  order  will  be  so  restored  as  to  correct  even 
the  material  disorder,  and  God  will,  in  a  peculiar 
sense,  be  All  and  in  All  and  through  All. 

The  Bible,  therefore,  is,  first  of  all,  the  Book  of 
salvation.  Cecil  Rhodes’  famous  saying  was,  “Let 
us  paint  Africa  Red.”  This  whole  Book  is,  in  an¬ 
other  sense,  “painted  Red’’ — dyed  scarlet  with  the 
blood  of  atonement.  And  the  attentive  student  is 
often  amazed  to  discover  a  hidden  meaning  where 
at  first  no  such  sacrificial  hue  was  seen.  Years  ago 
a  Jewish  convert  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
names  of  the  first  ten  Patriarchal  heads  of  the  Race, 
as  given  in  Genesis  v,  in  their  historic  order,  literally 
translated,  supply  material  for  a  sort  of  Redemptive 
sentence,  thus : 

ADAM  —  SETH  —  ENOS  —  CAINAN  — 
MAHALALEEL  —  JARED  —  ENOCH  —  ME- 
THUSALEH— LAMECH— NOAH.  The  respect- 

200 


The  Problem  of  Salvation. 


ive  meanings  are:  Man— placed — fallen- — Ransomer 
— Light  of  God — the  Descending— teaching — His 
Death  brings — Stricken — Rest.  More  recently,  from 
another  source,  a  Jewish  Rabbi  has  suggested 
a  similar  construction:  “The  Red  Earth — hath  ap¬ 
pointed — mortal  man — wailing — for  the  Dead ;  Why 
praise  God?  There  shall  descend,  a  mortal  man, 
Dismissing  Death,  (Bringing  to)  the  weary — Rest.” 
The  two  are  so  essentially  alike  as  to  intimate  a  pos¬ 
sible  divine  design,  that  this  list  of  historic  names 
should  spell  out  a  mystical  sentence,  giving  a  suc¬ 
cinct  history  of  Redemption. 

These  two  redemptive  sentences  might  thus  be  ren¬ 
dered  : 

“Man,  placed  on  earth,  and  fallen,  the  Ransomer, 
Light  of  Heaven, 

Descending,  teaches  stricken  men,  by  His  Death, 
rest  is  given.” 

“Red  Earth  appoints  to  mortals  to  wail,  for  dead, 
distressed ; 

Praise  God !  another  man  descends,  to  bring  the 
weary,  Rest.” 

There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that,  in  the 
Word  of  God,  the  basis  of  all  human  salvation  is 
laid  in  substitutionary  sacrifice — the  death  of  Jesus, 
Saviour,  upon  the  cross. 

All  through  the  Word  of  God  there  was  the 
scarlet  thread,  as  in  the  heart  of  the  cordage  of  the 


201 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

British  Navy,  so  that  cut  it  where  you  will  you  find 
that  red  cord  at  the  heart. 

The  Bible  presents  three  sides  to  the  Crucifixion 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ:  the  side  of  man’s  hate, 
cruelty,  malevolence;  and  the  side  of  God’s  Love, 
mercy  and  benevolence ;  and  the  side  of  Christ’s  vol¬ 
untary  self-offering.  From  one  point,  it  is  the  most 
awful  Tragedy  of  Crime  ever  perpetrated,  and  noth¬ 
ing  could  be  added  to  the  terrors  and  horrors  of  the 
whole  scene.  But,  from  another  point,  it  is  the  most 
awe-inspiring  strategy  of  grace  ever  imagined ;  and 
nothing  could  be  added  to  the  beauty  and  glory  of 
the  wisdom  and  love  that  shone  amid  that  darkness. 
So  long  and  so  far  as  infidelity  prevails,  and  skepti¬ 
cism  beclouds  even  the  intellectual  atmosphere,  men 
see  no  higher  or  farther  than  the  human  tragedy,  and 
Christ  becomes  no  more  than  the  Leader  in  a  pro¬ 
cession  of  martyrs  who  have  laid  down  their  lives 
for  the  truth.  But,  when  faith  revives,  and  prayer 
opens  the  doors  of  God’s  audience  chamber  and 
place  of  vision,  men  begin  to  see  that  this  human 
display  of  man’s  sinful  will  and  habits  of  evil  is  also 
a  Divine  display  of  infinite  Love  and  compassion, 
and  that  God  made  the  wrath  of  man  and  the  plot 
of  demons  to  work  out  the  ends  of  His  grace,  so  that 
Life  came  out  of  Death,  victory  out  of  defeat,  gain 
out  of  loss — and  He  who  seemed  the  Victim  was  in 
reality  the  Victor.  The  cross  will  always  be  a 
stumbling  block,  until,  behind  it,  is  seen  the  overrul¬ 
ing  purpose  of  the  Infinite  and  Eternal  God,  and 


202 


The  Problem  of  Salvation. 


the  voluntary  assumption  of  the  sinner’s  place  be¬ 
fore  the  law,  by  Him  who  bore  our  sins  in  His  own 
body  on  the  tree.* 

The  work  of  Jesus,  as  Saviour,  only  begins  at  the 
Cross .  The  life  He  there  laid  down  He  took  again ; 
and  the  riven  Tomb  witnessed  that,  out  of  this  new 
virgin  womb  of  Death  He  was  born  anew — as  “first 
born  from  the  dead,”  the  Lord  of  Life  to  all  who 
believe. 

Hence,  those  wondrous  words  of  the  Intercessory 
Prayer:  “And  this  is  Life  Eternal,  that  they  might 
know  Thee,  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ 
whom  Thou  hast  sent.”  The  word,  here  translated 
“that,”  is  commonly  construed  as  having  the  force 
of  ‘namely,’  and  expressing  an  equivalent.  But  such 
usage  does  not  consist  with  the  almost  uniform  usage 
of  the  same  word  elsewhere.  It  conveys  a  higher 
meaning,  if  understood  to  teach  that  this  gift  of 
life  eternal  is  in  order  to  the  knowledge  of  God — 
the  indispensable  means  to  that  result.f 

Here  is  deep,  divine  philosophy.  Only  Life  can 
understand  or  appreciate  life.  God  is  essentially 
Life  Eternal — the  mysterious  I  AM;  without  be- 


*The  Message  and  Meaning  of  the  Cross. — H.  C. 
Mabie. 

fThe  Greek  word  is  final,  as  marking  the  end  or  pur¬ 
pose  for  or  on  account  of  which  anything  is  done:  to  the 
end  that,  or  in  order  that,  it  might  be  so  and  so;  but  it 
is  also  efficient,  as  marking  the  event,  result,  upshot  of  an 
action,  that  in  which  it  terminates;  so  that  it  was,  is,  will 
be  so  and  so. 


2Q3 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


ginning  of  days  or  end  of  time,  He  abideth  continu¬ 
ally.  He  represents  the  sum  of  all  Being — the  same, 
yesterday  and  to-day  and  forever.  He  is  eternally 
and  essentially  the  unknown — a  Spirit  whom  no 
man  hath  seen  or  can  see.  Invisible,  unsearchable. 
He  evades  alike  our  senses  and  our  ideas — our  in¬ 
vestigations  and  our  imaginations.  After  our  re¬ 
searches  into  nature  have  been  aided  by  microscopic 
and  telescopic  lenses,  we  know  indeed  a  little  of  His 
created  works,  but  we  know  not  the  Creator  Himself 
any  more  than  we  know  Edison  when  we  have  seen 
and  studied  the  phonograph. 

To  have  Eternal  Life  in  Christ  is  to  have  the  very 
nature  of  God.  The  Spirit  of  God  who  knows  the 
things  of  God,  now  dwelling  in  us,  makes  us  to 
know  Him  by  partaking  of  His  Life  (i  Cor.  ii). 

II.  Hence  the  significance  of  this  second  name, 
“CHRIST” — one  who  has  received  the  Chrism,  or 
anointing,  and,  having  the  Holy  Spirit  without  meas¬ 
ure,  imparts  that  Spirit  to  the  penitent  and  believing 
sinner. 

God  can  reveal  Himself  to  man  only  by  imparting 
Himself .  Regeneration  prepares  for  illumination. 
Faith  makes  possible  such  revelation:  it  is  the  veri¬ 
fying  faculty  to  which  the  verity  appeals,  the  re¬ 
ceptive  faculty  that  responds  to  the  impartive  grace. 
In  wireless  telegraphy,  results  are  obtained  only  so 
far  as  the  receiver  is  in  tune  with  the  transmitter, 
otherwise  the  vibrations  of  the  ether  cannot  be  de¬ 
tected  and  reported.  From  the  Eternal  Generator 

204 


The  Problem  of  Salvation. 

of  Life,  pulsations  vibrate  through  the  universe,  but 
only  he  who  is  indwelt  by  the  Spirit  of  Life,  can 
become  a  receiver,  or  ever  knows,  or  feels  the  power 
of,  the  Message  that  God  would  transmit  to  man. 

It  is  this  truth,  especially,  that  makes  the  whole 
Gospel  according  to  John  alive  with  divine  and 
quickening  energy.  The  narrative  scarcely  opens 
before  the  inspired  writer  reminds  us  that  he  is 
writing  of  Him  in  whom  is  Life  and  Light  for  men. 
But  immediately  he  tells  us  that  death  cannot  re¬ 
ceive  life  nor  darkness  comprehend  Light.  But  he 
adds — “To  as  many  as  received  Him — even  to  them 
that  believe  on  His  name — gave  He  authority  to  be¬ 
come  the  sons  of  God/’  Vain,  even  the  Divine  Trans¬ 
mitter,  without  the  believing  Receiver. 

This  grand  truth  fills  and  thrills  the  whole  Gospel, 
like  an  omnipresent  electric  current.  It  reappears  in 
various  forms  of  statement  as  in  the  teaching  of  the 
third  chapter,  concerning  the  New  Birth  from  above, 
without  which  none  can  enter  or  even  see  the  King¬ 
dom  of  God;  and  there  is  not  a  chapter  that  fol¬ 
lows  without  some  new  hint  of  this  fundamental 
fact,  that  God  can  be  truly  known  only  through 
Christ,  and  even  Christ  known  only  through  the 
indwelling  and  inworking  of  His  Spirit.  Conse¬ 
quently  the  world  cannot  see,  know,  or  receive  Him 
(John  xiv:i7),  because  it  lacks  the  faculties  of  per¬ 
ception,  conception,  reception.  Only  as  we  are 
made  partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature,  which  is  to 
have  Eternal  Life,  can  we  know  Him. 

205 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


Here,  then,  is  the  second  stage  of  Salvation.  The 
first  was  deliverance  from  judgment,  because  that 
judgment  was  vicariously  borne.  But  to  escape 
penalty  in  itself  works  no  change  in  character;  and, 
without  that,  such  deliverance  might  only  encourage 
more  presumptuous  sin.  It  would  have  been  a  fatal 
defect  in  the  redemptive  scheme,  had  there  been  no 
provision  for  a  new  nature — a  transformed  charac¬ 
ter.  Justification  could  not  itself  be  justified  if  it 
.did  not  assure  regeneration,  and  God  would  not  have 
been  just  in  becoming  a  Justifier  (Rom.  iii:26). 

Behold  the  Wisdom  and  Righteousness  of  a  Par¬ 
doning  God !  He  who  was  delivered  for  our  offences 
and  raised  again  for  our  justification,  ascends  up  on 
high  and  receives  of  the  Father  the  Promise  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  that  He  may,  in  turn,  become  His 
Crowning  gift  to  man — his  Renewer  and  Transform¬ 
er.  And  now  Holiness  of  heart  and  Life  are  pro¬ 
vided  for,  a  character  and  a  conduct,  such  as  be¬ 
come  salvation  and  imply  a  higher  deliverance  from 
the  Power  of  sin,  providing  for  a  radical  change  of 
disposition — that  inmost  stronghold  of  sin — until 
anger,  wrath,  malice,  covetousness  are  displaced  by 
mercy,  kindness,  humbleness,  meekness,  longsuffer- 
ing — the  meek  and  quiet  spirit,  the  ornament  which 
burns  and  glows  in  the  heart  like  the  jewels  of  the 
breast  plate,  and  is  in  the  sight  of  God  of  great 
price. 

III.  Even  this  is  not  enough.  Jesus  Christ,  is  also 
Lord. 


206 


The  Problem  of  Salvation. 


The  fall  of  man  was  the  awful  wreck  of  a  throne ; 
and  the  loss  of  a  crown  and  a  sceptre.  Man  was 
made  to  have  dominion,  but,  instead,  he  has  lost 
mastery  even  over  himself,  and  God's  anointed  sov¬ 
ereign  has  sunk  to  Satan's  abject  slave.  For  six 
thousand  years  man  has  been  seeking  for  a  master 
and  found  none  that  could  break  his  chains  and  set 
him  free.  Even  the  believer  feels  his  bonds  but 
half  broken.  In  his  body,  soul  and  spirit,  the  re¬ 
mains  of  his  moral  wreck  and  ruin  wait  for  full 
repair  and  reconstruction.  As  in  a  healed  body, 
where  muscular  and  nervous  power  has  never  been 
restored,  but  the  traces  of  past  injury  remain,  even 
saints  find  themselves  hampered  and  hindered  in 
sanctity  and  service  by  the  relics  of  the  old  life  and 
the  “old  man,”  and  sigh  for  full  deliverance  from 
the  “body  of  this  death.” 

To  the  Lord’s  Second  Coming,  we  are  taught  to 
look  for  the  final  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ  as  Lord, 
and  the  final  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God. 
Then  the  body  of  our  humiliation  will  be  exchanged 
for  the  body  of  His  glory;  then  the  last  traces  of 
sin  and  even  infirmity  will  instantly  disappear,  and 
all  the  limitations  of  our  present  spiritual  life  be 
removed.  Sin  will  become  doubly  a  thing  of  the 
past,  and  Satanic  wiles  and  lies  cease  forever  to 
perplex  and  annoy.  For  the  first  time  man  will  know 
what  it  is  to  have  a  perfect  Sovereign,  whose  will  is 
law  and  whose  law  is  love;  and  a  new  Heaven  and 
a  new  Earth  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness  shall 

207 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

displace  the  present  disorder — cosmos  out  of  chaos 
— no  more  death,  sighing  nor  crying,  pain  nor  tears 
— a  City  of  God,  with  bridal  beauty  and  divine  puri¬ 
ty — into  which  entereth  nothing  that  defileth,  work- 
eth  abomination  or  maketh  a  lie. 

Ths  is  all  a  present  salvation,  for,  in  a  sense,  even 
the  final  consummation  casts  its  glory  backward 
upon  our  present  experience. 

While  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  in  the  flesh  in 
the  form  of  a  servant,  it  behoved  His  believing  peo¬ 
ple  to  be  as.  their  Master.  How  could  they  realize 
or  even  recognize  their  high  privilege  and  standing 
in  Him  as  sons !  Like  Him,  they  were  in  a  state  of 
servitude  and  humiliation ;  but  now  “our  citizenship 
is  in  heaven’’ — a  present  fact — though  its  full  reali¬ 
zation  and  enjoyment  waits  for  His  coming  to  lift 
His  people  to  the  full  inheritance  of  their  privileges. 
To  deny  the  present  “heavenlies,”  taught  in  Ephe¬ 
sians,  is  to  deny  the  present  “citizenship,”  taught  in 
Philippians.  In  the  Heavenlies  we  are  to  find  the 
present  sphere  of  our  identification  with  Christ. 
There  are  our  citizenship  and  our  treasures  (Matt. 
vi:20,  21 ) ,  our  Hope  (Col.  L5;  Titus  ii  113)  ;  our 
aims  and  affections  (Col.  iii:i,  2)  ;  our  inheritance 
(1  Pet.  i:4).  It  is  one  of  the  greatest  Redemptive 
facts,  that  our  Lord  has  by  His  own  Resurrection 
and  ascension  actually,  in  Himself,  raised  all  be¬ 
lievers  to  the  heights  of  Heavenly  Privilege,  from 

which  sin  had  shut  us  out,  and  into  which,  until 

208 


The  Problem  of  Salvation. 


His  ascension  and  the  Spirit’s  Descension,  it  was 
impossible  for  us  experimentally  to  enter. 

If  any  one  objects  that  such  a  view  is  inconsistent 
with  the  believer’s  present  experience  of  actual  con¬ 
flict  with  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  Devil,  let  him 
remember  that  there  is  more  than  one  phase  or  as¬ 
pect  of  our  relation  to  our  Lord.  There  is  the  as¬ 
pect  of  suffering  and  conflict,  for  as  yet  all  enemies 
are  not  made  the  footstool  of  His  feet ;  and  there  is 
the  aspect  of  sovereignty  and  even  of  conquest,  for 
He  is  on  the  Throne.  More  than  this,  even  in  our 
experience  of  earthly  conflict,  there  is  also  an  aspect 
of  Heavenly  conquest.  For  it  is  written  of  Him  that 
He  is  “set  down  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  from 
henceforth  expecting’ — an  emphatic  word  convey¬ 
ing  the  idea  of  receiving  in  expectation — as  though 
there  were  such  certainty  as  made  future  victory  a 
present  reality  (Heb.  x:i2,  13).  Therefore,  so  far 
as  our  position  is  realized,  we  shall  from  henceforth 
be  expecting,  and  our  experience  in  Him  will  be  far 
less  one  of  fighting  than  of  subduing.  We  shall  in 
Him  dare  to  count  or  reckon  ourselves  as  already 
victors.  It  is  our  present  privilege  to  clothe  our¬ 
selves  in  the  panoply  of  God  and  become  proof 
against  even  the  powers  of  darkness.  After  His 
Session  at  God’s  right  hand,  victory  over  our  foes  is 
uniformly  represented  as  assured  in  Him,  and  de¬ 
pendent,  not  on  our  effort,  but  on  our  standing  in 
Him.  The  greatest  of  our  foes,  the  representative 
adversary,  is  the  Devil,  and  yet  we  are  told  simply 

209 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


to  “ resist  him” — steadfast  in  the  faith,  and  he  will 
flee  from  us  (i  Peter  v:8,  9;  James  i v:7).  Aston¬ 
ishingly  easy  victory — simply  by  taking  the  attitude 
of  resistance!  And  so  (Ephesians  vi:io-2o)  we  have 
only  to  put  on  the  Lord’s  panoply  and  then  stand — as 
an  anvil  stands  under  the  hammer,  not  to  be  broken, 
but  to  break  the  hammer.  If  our  position  in  Him 
and  possession  of  Him  is  once  fully  seen  and  felt, 
we  also  shall  sit  down  in  conscious  sovereignty,  and 
from  henceforth  confidently  expect  our  enemies  to 
be  made  our  footstool. 

A  singular  phrase  occurs  in  Ephesians  five  times 
and  nowhere  else:  “in  the  heavenlies” — not  accom¬ 
panied  by  any  definitive  noun.  As  yet  we  are  not 
in  the  Heavenly  Places ,  but  in  the  earthly;  yet  it 
is  ours  to  recognize  and  realize  our  heavenly  states 
and  privileges  and  potential  victories  even  in  the 
earthly  places. 

To  refer  this  phrase  to  heavenly  places  and  to  the 
future  exaltation  of  saints  is  a  serious  if  not  funda¬ 
mental  error  in  exposition,  for  it  overlooks  a  fact 
of  vital  importance  to  the  understanding  of  our 
Lord’s  work  and  its  effect  on  believers,  namely,  that 
we,  unlike  Old  Testatment  believers,  are  blessed  in 
Christ  Jesus,  with  all  spiritual  blessings — the  word, 
all,  being  emphatic. 

Judaism  had  its  blessings  (Romans  ix:4,  5),  but 
how  little  did  even  Abraham,  Moses,  David  and 
Daniel  know  of  the  believer’s  blessings  as  a  whole, 
and  as  now  revealed  and  realized  in  Christ  by  the 

210 


The  Problem  of  Salvation. 


Spirit!  This  brief  phrase — in  the  heavenlies— ex¬ 
presses  a  fact  not  fully  presented  until  we  reach 
Ephesians  and  Colossians,  that  the  believer,  who  in 
Romans  is  seen  as  one  with  Christ  in  Death,  Burial 
and  Resurrection;  in  Corinthians,  as  one  with  Him 
by  the  indwelling  of  the  Spirit ;  and  in  Galatians  by 
the  walk  in  the  Spirit,  is  further  identified  with  Him 
in  His  Ascension  to  the  Heavenlies.  It  is  true  we 
are  as  yet  actually  in  the  earthly  sphere;  but  the 
church  is  the  Body  of  Christ.  It  reaches  from  Earth 
to  Heaven.  The  feet  stand  on  the  Earth,  but  the 
Head  is  among  the  stars;  and,  though  the  feet  are 
on  earth,  the  lower  members  thrill  with  the  life  and 
vitality  of  the  Head. 

It  is  only  in  the  light  of  such  truths  as  these  that 
we  can  understand  the  true  value  of  the  Scriptures 
of  Truth.  v- 

Out  of  all  the  marks  of  the  divine  adaptation  of 
the  Bible  to  man,  two  stand  conspicuous:  first,  its 
Revelation  of  God  and  spiritual  truth;  and  second, 
its  clear  exposition  of  the  way  of  salvation. 

Much  knowledge — in  fact,  a  vast  area  of  knowl¬ 
edge — is  open  to  man,  naturally,  and  without  help 
from  the  inspired  Word.  From  other  books  in 
God’s  library,  much  may  be  learned — from  the  ma¬ 
terial  universe — the  Book  of  Nature;  from  the  an¬ 
nals  of  the  Race — the  Book  of  History;  from  the 
experience  of  man — the  Book  of  Human  nature. 
For  the  study  of  these,  the  natural  man  has  his 
bodily  senses,  and  his  mental  powers  of  observation 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


and  recollection,  reason  and  reflection.  But  an¬ 
other  vast  area  of  knowledge  lies  outside  of  all  these 
— an  entire  universe,  wholly  beyond  the  reach  of 
the  senses  or  natural  faculties,  in  which  are  con¬ 
tained  the  deepest  truths  about  God  and  man.  As 
man  looks  at  nature  or  himself,  he  finds  a  limit  be¬ 
yond  which  he  cannot  pierce  or  penetrate — mys¬ 
teries  that  even  telescope  and  microscope  can  not  ex¬ 
plore,  depths  and  heights  that  defy  all  search  and 
pass  all  knowledge. 

For  example,  as  we  have  seen  in  another  connec¬ 
tion,  the  heavens  and  earth  may  suggest  a  Creator, 
and  evidence  His  wisdom  and  power,  and  even 
goodness.  But  of  His  moral  nature,  nature  can  only 
hint  vaguely,  and  uncertainly.  It  is  guesswork. 
Man  is  not  sure  that  the  Creator  is  even  good;  for 
there  are  so  many  evidences  of  destructive  forces 
at  work,  producing  disaster  that,  left  to  unaided 
reason,  he  can  at  best  conclude  with  the  followers 
of  Zoroaster  that  there  are  two  rival  Powers,  Orm- 
uzd  and  Ahriman,  one  working  good  and  the  other 
evil.  The  full  knowledge  of  God  he  cannot  thus 
attain. 

Again,  when  he  discovers,  in  himself,  a  nature 
prone  to  evil,  and  sees  himself  a  transgressor  of  law, 
absolutely  nothing  in  the  natural  world,  or  his  own 
little  world  within,  answers  such  questions  as,  How 
can  a  sinner  be  reconciled  to  God  ?  Is  there  forgiv- 
ness  with  Him,  or  any  way  to  be  saved  from  sin? 
To  such  moral  questions  in  vain  he  seeks  an  answer. 

2X2 


The  Problem  of  Salvation. 


The  depth  of  the  sea  saith  it  is  not  in  me,  and  in  the 
profounder  depth  of  the  sky,  as  he  looks  upward 
for  a  voice,  the  silence  is  awful.  All  the  history  of 
heathenism  is  one  pathetic  groping  in  the  dark.  Con¬ 
scious  of  having  offended  against  God — in  despair 
of  self  help — holocausts  and  hecatombs  of  victims — 
the  first  born  of  the  body  for  the  sin  of  the  soul. 
In  India  to-day  see  the  fakirs  on  their  beds  of  spikes, 
sitting  in  summer  heats  between  roasting  fires,  starv¬ 
ing  themselves  into  a  passionless  state,  sleepless, 
homeless,  self  tortured — all  in  hope  to  attain  the 
favor  of  the  gods  and  find  deliverance  from  sin  and 
suffering  in  extinction — Nirvana. 

It  is  here  that  the  Bible  especially  interposes.  It 
is  the  Revelation  of  those  truths  about  God  which 
can  be  known  in  no  other  way.  His  attitude  toward 
men — His  grace  in  forgiveness ;  the  stupendous  fact 
that  He  actually  seeks  the  lost  instead  of  leaving  the 
lost  to  seek  Him. 

Here  is  the  reason  why  the  Word  of  God  so  un¬ 
mistakably  teaches  and  supplies  the  need  of  a  Spirit¬ 
ual  Revelation.  The  spirit  of  man  is  a  dark  cham¬ 
ber.  The  body  has  its  senses  for  contact  with  the 
material  world.  The  soul  through  these  senses  goes 
out  to  gather  a  knowledge  of  physical  facts  and  then 
from  these  by  mental  processes  evolve  what  are 
called  science  and  philosophy.  But  as  to  those  more 
exalted  facts  and  truths  of  the  unseen  world,  pertain¬ 
ing  to  God  and  the  higher  needs  of  man,  the  spirit 
needs  other  avenues  of  knowledge. 

213 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

This  is  the  grand  office  of  the  Bible — to  let  light 
into  the  chambers  of  man’s  spirit.  It  brings  direct 
ray  from  God  and  pours  it  into  the  spirit  of  man. 
Everything  we  need  to  know  about  Him  and  His 
attitude  to  us,  is  here  revealed,  and  this  knowledge 
comes  only  from  the  Word. 

That  Word  pierces  to  that  dividing  asunder  of 
soul  and  spirit,  which,  even  to  man  himself,  is  a 
dark  chamber  of  mystery,  and  discerns  the  thoughts 
and  intents  of  the  heart.  But  if  it  pierces  like  an 
arrow  or  a  dart,  it  carries  on  its  sharp  point  not  a 
poison,  but  a  balm — it  wounds,  to  heal :  it  reveals  to 
relieve;  it  cuts  to  cure. 

Nothing  is  risked  in  the  broad  statement,  that, 
from  man’s  Creation  and  Fall,  unto  this  day,  not  one 
problem  of  spiritual  life  has  perplexed  humanity  that 
does  not  find  in  this  book  an  adequate  solution,  and 
more  than  this,  its  only  perfect  solution.  Not  one 
great  question  as  to  man’s  origin,  nature,  need,  peril, 
duty,  highest  interest  or  final  destiny,  which  does  not 
meet  here  and  here  only  its  satisfactory  anwer. 

If  this  be  true,  it  is  obvious  that  here  is  the  su¬ 
preme  evidence  of  the  superhuman,  supernatural  or¬ 
igin  of  the  Bible — the  highest  form  of  apologetic. 
No  greater  or  more  conclusive  proof  that  this  is 
God’s  Book  can  be  found  than  the  fact  that  it  thus 
corresponds  to  man’s  deepest  wants  as  only  God 
could  meet  them — that,  after  the  wisest  and  best  of 
the  human  race  have  worked  and  worried  during  all 
the  ages  over  the  problems  of  spiritual  life,  like  boys 

214 


The  Problem  of  Salvation. 


struggling  over  a  mathematical  problem,  one  sen¬ 
tence  of  the  Word  of  God  often  solves  the  difficulty 
as  a  key  unlocks  a  door.  This  has  been  the  satis¬ 
faction  of  the  simple  minded  and  the  surprise  of  the 
great  minded,  that  the  Word  of  God  proves  a  lamp 
unto  the  feet  and  a  light  unto  the  path — the  wisdom 
of  God  in  a  mystery,  flooding  with  sunshine  the  ob¬ 
scurest  realm  of  inquiry,  and  pronouncing  a  final 
and  ultimate  verdict  where  even  the  most  sagacious 
of  human  counsellors  and  judges  have  failed  to 
reach  a  decision;  or  where,  even  when  a  judgment 
was  formed,  there  was  still  a  hopeless  conflict  of 
opinion. 

Two  wonderful  marks  of  the  Bible’s  adaptedness 
to  man  are  most  conspicuous  and  important :  Its  Rev¬ 
elation  of  Truth  unknown  and  undiscoverable  by 
any  other  means ;  and  particularly  this  its  exhibition 
of  the  complete  Way  of  Salvation. 

In  what  are  known  as  the  “Burne-Jones  Mosaics,” 
in  the  American  Church  at  Rome,  art  has  sought  to 
pay  its  tribute  to  the  work  of  Christ  on  the  Cross. 

Outside  the  great  arch  of  the  chancel,  and  imme¬ 
diately  beneath  the  roof,  is  seen  the  annunciation; 
and  beyond,  the  Crucified  Christ,  boldly  conceived 
as  fixed,  not  upon  a  mere  instrument  of  shame  and 
torture — the  cross;  but  on  a  Tree  of  Life,  whose 
branches  cover  the  whole  heaven.  Adam,  with 
sheaves  of  garnered  wheat,  is  seen  on  the  one  side 
of  the  crucified ;  on  the  other  Eve  with  her  children 
and  lilies.  Beyond  this  arch,  in  the  semi-dome  of 

215 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


the  apse,  is  pictured  a  glory  of  angels,  and,  below, 
the  enthroned  Christ,  surrounded  by  seraphic  figures, 
holding  in  his  hand  the  terrestrial  globe.  Fountains 
of  life  spring  from  beneath  the  throne,  but  so  separ¬ 
ated  from  it  by  a  strongly  defined  arch,  as  to  divide 
the  spiritual  realm  above  from  the  earth  below.  On 
each  side,  are  two  attendant  figures,  representing 
the  four  Archangels.  Above  the  outer  arch  are  in¬ 
scribed  in  Latin  words,  the  angelic  salutation ;  above 
the  inner  arch,  also  in  Latin  words :  “In  the  world 
ye  shall  have  tribulation;  but  be  of  good  cheer,  I 
have  overcome  the  world.” 

Our  subject  also  makes  clearer  the  value  of  a  true 
preaching  of  the  Gospel . 

The  reason  is  apparent,  why  the  New  Testament 
so  emphasizes  the  preaching  of  Christ. 

The  method  whereby  it  has  pleased  God  to  save 
men  needs  far  clearer  apprehension,  and  especially 
the  mutual  relation  of  the  preaching  of  Christ  and 
the  working  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Attention  may  be 
so  fixed  upon  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  to  risk 
a  possible  obscuration  of  that  other  equally  impor¬ 
tant  factor,  the  faithful  preaching  of  Christ,  or  con¬ 
versely.  But  the  bearing  of  each  on  the  other  is 
vital.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  first  of  all  the  Spirit  of 
Truth — He  uses  truth,  and  most  of  all  the  truth 
about  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  basis  for  all  His 
regenerating  and  sanctifying  work ;  so  that  in  exact¬ 
ly  that  proportion  in  which  men  are  taught  this 
great  essential  truth  of  Christ,  crucified,  risen,  as- 

216 


The  Problem  of  Salvation. 


cended,  and  coming  again,  is  the  foundation  laid  for 
the  Spirit  to  work  His  wonders  in  salvation.  It  is 
therefore  possible  to  offer  prayer  in  a  mistaken  and 
misguided  way  for  the  Spirit’s  outpouring  and  man¬ 
ifestation  when  we  are  not  giving  heed  to  the  prep¬ 
aration  for  His  regenerating  work  in  the  full,  clear 
and  constant  presentation  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

One  of  the  most  emphatic  of  our  Lord’s  sayings 
is  that  double  “verily”  in  Jno.  v:24,  26). 

Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  heareth 
my  word,  and  believeth  on  him  that  sent  me,  hath 
everlasting  life,  and  shall  not  come  into  condemna¬ 
tion  *  but  is  passed  from  death  unto  life. 

Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  The  hour  is  com¬ 
ing,  and  now  is,  when  the  dead  shall  hear  the  voice 
of  the  Son  of  God ;  and  they  that  hear  shall  live. 

For  as  the  Father  hath  life  in  himself;  so  hath  he 
given  to  the  Son  to  have  life  in  himself ; 

And  hath  given  him  authority  to  execute  judg¬ 
ment  also,  because  he  is  the  Son  of  man. 

This  is  the  declaration  of  a  spiritual  Resurrection 
from  among  the  dead ,  as  that  which  follows  is  the 
prophecy  of  a  future  and  physical  Resurrection ;  and 
it  is  made  in  both  cases  to  depend  upon  the  voice  of 
the  Son  of  God,  an  equivalent  phrase  for  His  Word 
(24).  Three  things  are  the  conditions  of  this  spir¬ 
itual  Resurrection — Christ’s  Voice,  the  hearing  of  it 
and  the  quickening  by  it.  The  last  is  the  work  of 
the  Spirit  which  we  cannot  command  or  control,  ex¬ 
cept  by  fulfilling  the  conditions:  there  must  be  the 

217 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


Word  of  Christ  spoken  and  heard .  Of  this  teach¬ 
ing  in  Chapter  V,  the  incident  in  Chapter  XI — the 
raising  of  Lazarus — is  designed  to  be  both  type  and 
illustration.  Lazarus  had  been  four  days  dead — 
there  was  therefore  no  doubt  of  his  death  and  al¬ 
ready  offensive  decay  and  dissolution.  Yet  our 
Lord  had  only  to  speak  the  three  words,  “Lazarus, 
come  forth !”  and,  behold  the  result!  the  dead  man 
lived,  and  corruption  not  only  was  arrested,  but  the 
process  of  decay  was  actually  reversed  and  un¬ 
done  ! 

The  word  or  voice  of  Christ  has  never  lost  power. 
We  make  a  fundamental  mistake  in  attaching  even 
a  secondary  importance  to  the  power  of  His  own 
utterances  in  raising  dead  souls  and  quickening 
them.  This  is  the  one  miracle,  sign,  wonder  that 
never  fails.  And  let  us  think  and  speak  of  it  rever¬ 
ently  !  The  true  preaching  of  the  Gospel  is  the  ut¬ 
terance  of  the  Word — the  echo  of  His  Voice.  It  is 
given  to  every  one  who  faithfully  proclaims  the  Gos¬ 
pel  to  speak  in  His  name,  that  is,  in  His  person,  and 
with  His  authority.  We  can  even  command  dead 
souls  to  arise  and  come  forth !  That  is  magnifying 
the  Spirit’s  work  out  of  the  due  proportion  of  faith 
which  overlooks  or  belittles  the  power  which  super- 
naturally  inheres  in  the  true  preaching  of  Christ  cru¬ 
cified.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  men  and 
women  who  know  very  little  intelligently  and  con¬ 
sciously  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  have  wrought  great 
marvels  by  the  power  of  His  name,  so  that  it  is  safer 

218 


The  Problem  of  Salvation. 


to  preach  the  full  Gospel  of  Salvation  through  Christ 
without  conscious  dependence  on  the  Spirit  than  to 
plead  for  the  Spirit’s  presence  and  power  without 
providing  that  grand  preparation  for  His  working, 
found  in  the  Scriptural  and  incessant  proclamation 
of  the  Gospel  Message. 

I  know  no  more  august  conception  of  the  whole 
work  of  preaching  than  this — that  it  is,  as  ambassa¬ 
dors  for  Christ,  acting  in  His  stead  and  speaking  by 
His  authority,  becoming  mere  echoes  of  His  Voice 
and  Word — and  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Nazareth  bidding  the  lame  rise  up  and  walk  and  the 
dead  “Come  Forth!” 

Whenever  this  is  faithfully  done,  results  will  al¬ 
ways  follow.  Whether  or  not  we  formally  feel  and 
recognize  our  dependence  on  the  Holy  Spirit,  He 
will  not  fail  to  do  His  work,  for  He  recognizes  the 
voice,  word,  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

This  explains  two  great  crises  in  the  acts  of  the 
Apostles — one  on  the  day  of  Pentecost;  the  other 
that  Roman  Pentecost  in  the  house  of  Cornelius.  In 
both  cases  it  is  most  noticeable  that  the  point  at 
which  the  great  manifestation  of  the  Spirit  was 
realized  was  when  Peter  had  given  his  full  testimony 
about  Christ.  Note  the  clear  indication  in  both 
cases. 

This  Jesus  hath  God  raised  up,  whereof  we  all  are 
witnesses. 

Therefore,  being  by  the  right  hand  of  God  ex¬ 
alted,  and  having  received  of  the  Father  the  promise 

219 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


of  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  hath  shed  forth  this,  which 
ye  now  see  and  hear. 

For  David  is  not  ascended  into  the  heavens:  but 
he  saith  himself,  The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,  Sit 
thou  on  my  right  hand, 

Until  I  make  thy  foes  thy  footstool. 

Therefore  let  all  the  house  of  Israel  know  as¬ 
suredly,  that  God  hath  made  that  same  Jesus,  whom 
ye  have  crucified,  both  Lord  and  Christ. 

Now,  when  they  heard  this,  they  were  pricked  in 
their  heart,  and  said  unto  Peter  and  to  the  rest  of 
the  apostles,  Men  and  brethren,  what  shall  we  do? 
(Acts  ii  132-37) . 

So  also  at  the  house  of  Cornelius: 

That  word,  I  say>  ye  know,  which  was  published 
throughout  Judaea,  and  began  from  Galilee,  after  the 
baptism  which  John  preached; 

How  God  anointed  Jesus  of  Nazareth  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  and  with  power :  who  went  about  doing 
good,  and  healing  all  that  were  oppressed  of  the 
devil ;  for  God  was  with  him. 

And  we  are  witnesses  of  all  things  which  he  did 
both  in  the  land  of  the  Jews,  and  in  Jerusalem; 
whom  they  slew  and  hanged  on  a  tree: 

Him  God  raised  up  the  third  day,  and  shewed  him 
openly ; 

Not  to  all  the  people,  but  unto  witnesses  chosen 
before  of  God,  even  to  us,  who  did  eat  and  drink 
with  him  after  he  rose  from  the  dead. 

And  he  commanded  us  to  preach  unto  the  people, 

220 


The  Problem  of  Salvation. 


and  to  testify  that  it  is  he  which  was  ordained  of 
God  to  be  the  Judge  of  quick  and  dead. 

To  him  give  all  the  prophets  witness,  that  through 
his  name  whosoever  believeth  in  him  shall  receive 
remission  of  sins. 

While  Peter  yet  spake  these  words,  the  Holy 
Ghost  fell  on  all  them  which  heard  the  word.  (Acts 

x:37"44-) 

In  both  these  cases  it  is  of  first  importance  to  ob¬ 
serve  that  each  of  these  brief  discourses  embraced 
all  the  fundamental  facts  of  Christ’s  vicarious  death, 
i  esurrection,  ascension  and  all  sufficiency.  Had  our 
Lord  Himself  been  present  and  speaking,  we  can 
scarcely  imagine  a  more  explicit  and  comprehensive 
announcement  of  His  complete  work  as  Saviour, 
Christ  and  Lord.  In  one  case  the  whole  of  the  testi¬ 
mony  as  to  Christ’s  work  is  contained  in  less  than 
four  hundred  words  and  in  the  latter,  in  less  than 
two  hundred;  but  so  soon  as  there  was  enough 
spoken  to  become  the  basis  of  a  saving  work  the 
Holy  Spirit  began  to  act  wondrously.  In  the  for¬ 
mer  case  they  were  pricked  in  their  heart,  and  com¬ 
pelled  to  ask  what  shall  we  do  ?  In  the  latter,  ‘‘While 
Peter  yet  spake  these  words,  the  Holy  Spirit  fell  on 
all  them  which  heard  the  word,”  as  though  the 
Spirit  were  divinely  impatient  to  bless  men  and 
waited  only  for  a  sufficient  declaration  of  saving 
truth  to  begin  at  once  to  manifest  His  power. 

The  discourse  of  Peter,  at  Pentecost,  has  great 
interest  and  importance,  as  the  first  Christian  ser- 


221 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


man — first  utterance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  Spirit 
of  Truth ,  guiding  into  all  truth,  and  “ ‘taking  of  mine 
and  shewing  unto  you;”  and  Spirit  of  Power  in 
witness  for  Christ — -already  breathed  into  them  as 
Spirit  of  Life  on  the  evening  of  Resurrection  (John 
xx). 

Here  Peter,  overflowing  with  Holy  Spirit  knowl¬ 
edge  and  power,  in  few  words,  recites  and  explains 
the  career  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth — His  work  on  the 
cross,  His  resurrection  as  Prince  of  Life,  ascension 
and  Pentecostal  Effusion,  and  present  session  on  the 
Throne  of  God  as  King  and  Conqueror.  The  past, 
present  and  future  of  Christ  as  Redeemer  is  thus  set 
forth  clearly,  briefly,  comprehensively  and  power¬ 
fully,  and  they  were  pricked  in  their  heart  and  three 
thousand  added  to  the  Lord*  that  day. 

Within  the  compass  of  that  one  discourse  the 
whole  plan  of  salvation  is  found,  and  nothing  new 
remains  to  be  said  except  to  expand  what  is  here 
stated  germinally. 

It  is  at  least  hinted  in  our  Lord's  talk  on  the  way 
to  Emmaus  that  His  image  is  to  be  traced  through¬ 
out  the  whole  Old  Testament.  It  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that,  in  some  form,  His  impress  may  be  found, 
however  faintly,  on  every  page  of  Scripture,  so  that 
an  inspired  teacher  might  begin  anywhere  and,  like 
Philip,  preach  Jesus.  We  need  only  the  illumined 
insight  to  recognize  the  often  invisible  tracing  which 
like  the  waterline  in  paper  is  seen  only  when  held 
up  to  the  light. 


222 


The  Problem  of  Salvation. 


A  visitor  at  the  home  of  an  English  clergyman,  of 
devout  habits,  was '  amazed  to  find,  written  on 
every  page  from  Genesis  to  Revelation — “CHRIST/' 
and  resolved  to  ask  him  the  meaning  of  all  this.  He 
stared  as  in.  astonishment,  and  after  a  pause  replied, 
“I  always,  thought  you  knew  your  Bible  well,  but 
you  seem,  not  to  know  an  all  important  Scripture  that 
quite  warrants  me  in  putting  ‘Christ’  where  it  is  ; 
for  except  I  see  Him  from  beginning  to  end  of 
Scripture,  I  am  as  dark  as  the  Emmaus  disciples.” 
“I  at  once,”  says  the  writer,  “confessed  my  ignorance 
of  Luke-  xxiv  :2j ;  but  from  that  day  to  this  have 
been  led  of  God  to  make  much  of  this  glorious  fact.” 

Here  likewise  is  to  be  found  the  reason  why  the 
simple  Gospel  story,  surviving  all  assaults  of  unbe¬ 
lief  and*  disbelief,  still  proves  to  hold  sinning  souls 
under  its  charm. 

Bishop  Whipple  used  to  tell  of  a  young  man  whom 
he  knew — a  thoughtful  and  scholarly  man- — who  had 
searched  all  literature  to  find  objections  to  the  Chris¬ 
tian  religion,  and  arm  himself  with  a  panoply  of 
weapons  against  the  truth.  He  was  compelled,  how¬ 
ever,  to  confess  that  he  was  kept  back  from  con¬ 
firmed  Infidelity  by  three  things: 

“First,  I  am  a  man ;  I  am  going  somewhere ;  to¬ 
night  I  am  a  day  nearer  the  grave  than  I  was  last 
night.  I  have  read  all  such  books  can  tell  me ;  they 
shed  not  one  solitary  ray  upon  the  darkness;  they 
take  away  the  only  guide  and  leave  one  stone-blind. 

“Secondly,  I  had  a  mother;  I  saw  her  go  down 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


into  the  dark  valley  where  I  am  going,  and  she 
leaned  upon  an  unseen  arm  as  a  child  goes  to  sleep 
on  the  breast  of  its  mother.  I  know  that  was  not  a 
dream. 

“Thirdly,  I  have  three  motherless  children.  They 
have  no  protector  but  myself.  I  would  rather  kill 
them  than  leave  them  in  this  sinful  world  if  you 
blot  out  from  it  all  the  teachings  of  the  Gospel/' 

Is  there  any  answer  to  the  arguments  which  held 
this  man  from  the  abyss  of  infidelity?  Life  and 
death  are  realities.  They  are  in  us,  before  us  and 
around  us.  Life  has  problems  and  death  has  ter¬ 
rors,  and  nothing  the  world  can  give  can  satisfy  the 
soul. 

From  all  this  discussion  several  practical  conclu¬ 
sions  are  clear. 

1.  This  book  should  be  handled  with  great  humil¬ 
ity  and  docility.  It  should  inspire  reverence.  It  is 
quite  possible  to  approach  it  with  an  undue  intel¬ 
lectual  conceit,  and  mistake  the  ideas  we  read  into 
it  for  the  ideas  we  find  in  it,  reminding  again  of 
Parke  Godwin’s  witty  remark  about  “original  in¬ 
vestigation”  where  “the  originality  surpassed  the 
investigation.” 

2.  Its  credibility  does  not  hang  on  the  inherent 
probability  of  the  facts  narrated.  Sometimes,  the  im¬ 
probability  of  a  prophecy,  and  the  strange  and  un¬ 
precedented  character  of  the  fulfillment,  become 
strongest  proofs  of  actuality;  since  it  would  not 
occur  to  a  prophet  to  predict  what  would  be  most 

224 


The  Problem  of  Salvation. 


unlikely  to  happen,  nor  to  a  historian  to  record 
what  was  equally  without  precedent,  if  they  were 
simply  writing  from  a  human  point  of  view  and 
seeking  to  commend  their  writings  to  human  confi¬ 
dence. 

3.  Whenever  a  clew  unlocks  a  maze,  we  need  no 
other  path,  especially  if  any  other  leads  us  only  to  a 
wall  of  impenetrable  mystery,  or  back  to  our  start¬ 
ing  point.  This  Book  is  confessedly  a  mystery. 
There  is  one  and  only  one  possible  solution,  namely, 
that  it  is  what  it  claims :  on  that  basis  we  find  all 
that  is  strange  and  unaccountable  reasonably  ex¬ 
plained;  but  as  Mr.  Frank  Ballard  has  shown  in  his 
striking  book,  “the  miracles  of  unbelief’  are  abso¬ 
lutely  greater  than  those  that  unbelief  sets  aside  as 
incredible. 

Were  I  asked  what  is  the  most  unanswerable  ar¬ 
gument  for  the  Divine  Origin  of  Christianity,  I 
would  unhesitatingly  answer,  Calvary .  Archbishop 
Whately  and  Dr.  Pusey  after  him,  long  since  framed 
the  axiom  that  when  what  is  in  the  highest  degree 
improbable  is  foretold  ages  in  advance  and  then  act¬ 
ually  occurs  as  foretold,  it  furnishes  the  highest 
evidence  of  a  superhuman  origin.  It  is  often  said 
that  the  whole  tragedy  of  the  Crucifixion — the  in¬ 
carnation  of  God  in  man  for  the  purpose  of  such  vi¬ 
carious  atonement — and  the  resurrection  of  the  cru¬ 
cified  One,  in  a  body  no  longer  mortal — that  all  this 
is  so  improbable  and  impossible  as  to  be  incredible. 
But  in  the  very  impossibility  lies  the  credibility!  For 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


sane  men,  common  men  taken  from  common  walks 
of  life — men  of  all  varieties  of  temperament,  accus¬ 
tomed  only  to  deal  with  the  commonplace  monoto¬ 
ny  of  life,  are  not  likely  to  dream  a  dream  so  trans¬ 
cendent,  so  extraordinary,  so  superhuman.  Now, 
notice  that  while  this  whole  prophecy  and  history 
of  Incarnation,  Crucifixion,  Resurrection,  Ascension 
and  ultimate  Return,  is  extraordinary  and  entirely 
above  the  whole  common  level  of  human  experience, 
it  is  entirely  self-consistent .  Grant  that  the  Son  of 
the  Eternal  God  actually  does  undertake  such  a 
mission  in  behalf  of  man,  and  the  rest  is  in  harmony 
with  the  supposition.  Start  with  Calvary  and  you 
have  no  explanation,  for  no  crucified  and  speared 
man  can  pour  out  his  life  blood,  be  buried  and  rise 
the  third  day  to  die  no*  more.  But  once  go  back 
from  Calvary  and  accept  fhe  Bible  story  of  His 
birth — once  admit  that  this  is  no.  mere  man  upon  the 
cursed  tree,  but  the  GOD-MAN,  and  you  are  pre¬ 
pared  to  understand  His  own  mysterious  saying: 
“No  man  taketh  my  life  from  me :  I  have  power  to 
lay  it  down  and  I  have  power  to  take  it  again.”  He 
who  hangs  on  the  cross  is  not  the  helpless  victim 
He  seems.  One  word  from.  Him  even  now  and 
twelve  legions  of  angels  would  surround  His  cross, 
waiting  to  do  His  bidding.  All  this  is  voluntary, 
because  He  has  undertaken  to  redeem  man  by  dying 
the  just  for  the  unjust,  that  He  might  bring  us  to 
God.  But  in  the  Godman  there  is  a  Divine  as  well 
as  a  human  factor.  The  human  may  die,  but  the  Di* 

226 


The  Problem  of  Salvation. 


vine  cannot.  He  is  even  in  dying  still  the  “Prince 
of  Life,”  and  cannot  remain  under  the  power  of 
death.  Resurrection  to  die  no  more  is  but  the  natur¬ 
al  finale  of  this  tragedy  and  so  is  Ascension  to  God’s 
right  hand ;  for  when  His  errand  is  completed  what 
is  more  to  be  expected  than  the  Son’s  Return  to  His 
Father’s  House  and  Heart! 

I  expand  this  thought  because  it  is  not  appreciated 
at  its  true  value.  The  very  objections  of  infidels  and 
skeptics  to  the  facts  of  Christianity  are  in  truth  its 
unanswerable  arguments.  For  thousands  of  years 
the  whole  machinery  of  the  Heavens  was  an  inex¬ 
tricable  maze  of  mystery,  with  its  sun  and  planets 
and  satellites,  its  fixed  stars  and  comets ;  it  seemed 
as  though  there  must  come  some  mighty  crash  of 
collision,  some  universal  disaster — the  paths  of  mov¬ 
ing  orbs  seemed  irregular  and  uncertain  and  without 
definite  order  or  system.  But  the  trouble  is  star¬ 
gazers  had  not  got  the  Right  Point  of  View!  They 
were  led  by  such  as  Ptolemy  to  take  their  stand  on 
the  Earth  and  it  became  to  them  the  center  around 
which  all  else  moved.  But  Copernicus  took  his 
stand  on  the  Sun .  He  found  a  new  center,  a  new 
point  of  prospect;  and  lo,  all  the  inexplicable  mys¬ 
tery  of  the  solar  system  became  plain.  The  problem 
of  ages  was  solved.  And  since  then,  astronomers 
have  found  a  still  grander  center  for  the  Stellar  uni¬ 
verse,  for  they  find  that  this  whole  visible  body  of 
stars  are  in  motion  around  one  point  which  Madler 
indicated  as  the  brilliant  star  Alcyone  in  the  constel¬ 
lation  of  the  Pleiades! 


227 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


Men  have  studied  the  story  of  Calvary,  taking 
their  stand  on  the  Earth,  and  making  the  human 
will  their  center.  From  this  point  of  view  only  one 
thing  is  plain:  the  malice  of  men  might  crucify  a 
good  man.  But  how  many  other  acts  go  unex¬ 
plained  !  This  crucified  man  claimed  to  be  the  Son 
of  God  in  so  unique  a  sense  as  to  be  equally  entitled 
to  worship  and  endowed  with  power  and  Eternal 
Life;  and  if  the  testimony  of  hundreds  of  credible 
witnesses  is  to  be  trusted  He  both  foretold  His  rising 
from  the  dead  and  actually  did  as  He  said,  and  forty 
days  later,  in  their  sight,  rose  heavenward  and  was 
received  into  a  cloud  out  of  their  sight.  All  this, 
while  earth  is  our  point  of  view  is  not  only  inex¬ 
plicable  :  it  is  absurdly  incredible.  It  belongs  to  the 
realm  of  fable  and  fancy. 

But  now  take  the  point  of  view  suggested  in  the 
Word.  Take  your  stand  at  the  Throne  of  God' — - 
the  center  of  the  moral  universe.  See  the  whole 
mystery  of  the  Birth,  Death,  Rising  from  the  dead 
as  one  consistent  plan  of  Redemption,  devised  by 
God  and  wrought  out  by  Him  as  He  only  can  plan 
or  perform.  And  now  all  comes  into  order  and 
harmony.  There  may  be  mystery  still,  but  it  is  the 
mystery  of  Love  and  Wisdom  passing  human 
thought. 

When  Prof.  Rendel  Harris  of  Cambridge  went 
to  Armenia,  after  the  massacre,  on  a  mission  of 
mercy  to  the  orphans  of  those  modern  martyrs,  he 
was  permitted  to  speak  in  one  of  the  Greek  churches 

228 


The  Problem  of  Salvation. 


in  the  district  desolated  by  Turkish  assassins.  See¬ 
ing  before  him  forty  or  fifty  of  the  men  who  had 
survived  the  slaughter,  scarred  and  maimed,  he  felt 
impelled  to  bring  them  a  message  suited  to  their  ex¬ 
periences  of  suffering.  But  back  of  them  stood  a  com¬ 
pany  of  soldiers,  spies  of  the  government  sent  to 
catch  him  in  his  talk,  and  any  reference  to  the  mas¬ 
sacre  might  involve  him  in  peculiar  peril  and  even 
forfeit  his  own  life.  Nevertheless,  he  did  not  hesi¬ 
tate.  Choosing  as  a  text  Isaiah  xlix:i6, 

“He  hath  graven  thee  upon  the  palms  of  His 
hands,” 

he  showed  that  the  palms  of  our  Lord’s  hands  were 
the  place  of  the  nail-prints — the  stigmata  of  the 
crucifixion.  How  could  He  look  on  those  marks  of 
His  own  suffering  for  their  sakes  and  not  remember 
their  sufferings  for  His  sake?  Their  sorrows  as 
His  witnesses  identified  them  with  the  Master  Him¬ 
self  and  would  not  be  forgotten  or  unrewarded. 

It  was  at  immense  personal  risk  that  Prof.  Harris 
dared  thus  to  refer  to  the  awful  scenes  through 
which  they  had  passed.  But  he  suffered  no  harm. 
As  he  afterward  learned,  those  very  soldiers  went 
and  reported  to  the  authorities,  “Never  man  spake 
like  this  man.” 

It  was  a  new  demonstration  and  illustration  of 
that  great  fact  that  the  story  of  the  cross  never  loses 
its  charm.  There  is  something  about  it  so  grand  yet 
so  pathetic,  so  sublime  yet  so  tragic,  so  unselfish  and 

22 9 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


heroic,  so  overwhelming  and  subduing,  so  indescrib¬ 
able  and  incredible — that  God's  only  Son  should  be¬ 
come  man,  and  in  some  strange  sense  become  sin 
for  man  that  in  Him  man  might  become  the  right¬ 
eousness  of  God,  and  all  this  by  simple  faith — that  in 
all  ages  and  among  all  classes  it  has  had  a  power 
absolutely  unparalleled ,  and  after  nineteen  centuries 
its  power  is  still  undiminished  and  undecaying. 

We  are  told  that  when  the  Risen  Christ  appeared 
to  the  disciples  on  the  mount  and  in  Galilee,  they 
worshipped  Him,  but  some  doubted. 

It  will  always  be  so;  side  by  side  with  the  most 
devout  worshippers,  and  even  before  the  indisputa¬ 
ble  evidences  of  the  Risen  Christ,  there  will  be  some 
who  doubt.  But  let  us  continue  to  worship.  Quite 
enough  for  us  if  He  says,  “All  power  is  given  to 
Me  .  .  .  and  all  the  days  I  am  with  you.” 

JESUS — CHRIST — LORD. 

Watching  shepherds  heard  Redemption's  song, 
Bursting  from  angelic  choral  throng: 

“Unto  you,  this  holy  natal  morn. 

In  your  city,  Bethlehem,  is  born, 

Jesus,  who  is  Saviour,  Christ  and  Lord.” 

% 

He  is  Jesus,  for,  upon  the  tree, 

He  bore  sin,  to  set  the  guilty  free : 

Free  from  load  of  penalty  for  sin. 

Free  from  alien  heart  that  hides  within. 

Christ  and  Lord,  but  Saviour,  first  of  all. 


230 


The  Problem  of  Salvation. 


Christ — anointed  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 

He  hath  shed  His  Promised  Pentecost : 
Breathes  God's  Spirit  into  human  hearts* 
God’s  own  nature  graciously  imparts. 

Jesus,  Saviour,  Lord,  is  also  Christ. 

Lord — He  comes  again,  to  reign  as  King- 
Full  Redemption  to  His  saints  to  bring: 
Perfected,  in  body,  spirit,  soul, 

All  creation  finally  made  whole. 

Jesus,  Saviour,  Christ,  at  last  is  Lord . 

Then  shall  end  the  age-long  mystery — 
Death  itself,  last  enemy,  shall  die — 

Then  shall  Satan’s  throne  and  kingdom  fall 
Every  foe  beneath  His  feet !  Amen  1 
That  God,  henceforth,  may  be  all  in  all ! 


231 


CHAPTER  IX. 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  FAITH. 

On  this  question,  Scripture  lessons  are  singularly 
progressive,  beginning  with  the  simplest  and  most 
rudimental,  and  advancing  to  the  most  complex  and 
complete.  Some  of  the  leading  steps  of  this  teach¬ 
ing  may  be  indicated  at  the  outset: 

“ Abram  believed  in  the  Lord,  and  He  counted  it 
to  him  for  righteousness”  (Genesis  xv:6). 

“The  just  shall  live  by  his  faith”  (Habakkuk 
ii  :4). 

“They  that  know  Thy  name  will  put  their  trust 
in  Thee”  (Psalm  ix:io). 

“Believe  in  the  Lord  your  God;  so  shall  ye  be 
established :  Believe  His  prophets ;  so  shall  ye  pros¬ 
per”  (2  Chron.  xx:2o). 

“Have  faith  in  God,”  or  “Hold  the  faith  of  God” 
(Mark  xi:22). 

“He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  Everlasting 
Life”  (John  iii  136) . 

“Faith  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for;  the 
evidence  of  things  not  seen.  By  Faith  the  Elders 
obtained  a  good  report”  (Hebrews  xi:i,  2). 

“She  judged  Him  faithful  who  had  promised” 
(verse  11). 

“If  we  receive  the  witness  of  men  the  witness  of 
God  is  greater”  (1  John  v:9). 

232 


The  Problem  of  Faith. 


It  is  of  first  importance  to  understand  the  nature 
and  province,  powers  and  possibilities  of  faith,  for 
upon  it  depends  the  existence  and  development  of 
all  true  life  in  the  Spirit.  Hence,  on  this  subject, 
perhaps  more  than  any  other,  the  Divine  Teacher, 
in  His  Word,  begins  with  the  alphabet  of  faith,  the 
simplest  rudimentary  lesson,  and  gradually  leads  on 
to  the  most  advanced  level ;  but  to  understand  the 
advance  lessons,  it  is  needful  to  master  the  primary 
and  fundamental. 

The  word,  believe,  is  first  found  in  Gen.  xv:6, 
where  it  is  said,  literally,  that  “Abraham  amened 
Jehovah,  and  it  was  imputed  unto  him  for  right¬ 
eousness.”  The  verb,  “amen,”  means  not  let  it  be 
so,  but  it  shall  be  so.  When  the  Lord  promised 
Abram  a  son,  after  Sarah  was  beyond  the  age  of 
bearing,  he  simply  responded  to  Jehovah’s  word, 
“it  shall  be  as  the  Lord  hath  spoken.”  Hence  James 
adds,  “and  he  was  called  the  friend  of  God,”  for  it 
is  a  sign  of  friendship  that  another’s  word  affirmed 
by  him  is  confirmed  by  us. 

This  first  lesson  on  faith  is  followed  by  a  second, 
twelve  hundred  years  after  (Hab.  ii:4):  “The  just 
shall  live  by  his  faith.” 

The  importance  of  these  two  texts  will  appear  in 
the  fact  that  they  are  thrice  repeated  in  the  New 
Testament  epistles,  and,  where  they  occur,  mark 
critical  points  in  the  argument. 

Gen.  xv  :6  is  repeated  in  Rom.  iv.*3,  Gal.  iii:6, 
James  ii:23. 


233 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

Hab.  ii  14  is  repeated  in  Rom.  1:17,  Gal.  iii  :i  1, 
Heb.  x:3& 

God  gave  His  people  twelve  hundred  years  to 
learn  that  first  lesson  before  He  gave  them  the 
other.  The  word  “faith”  is  found  but  once,  before 
it  is  found  in  Habakkuk  (Deut.  xxxii:2o),  “Chil- 
dien  in  v/hom  is  no  faith,”  where  it  means  faithful¬ 
ness,  i.  e.,  they  neither  have  faith  in  Me  nor  keep 
faith  with  Me. 

The  word  “believe”  also  seldom  occurs,  with  re¬ 
lation  to  God,  in  all  this  interval. 

Isa.  xxviii:i6  is  a  marked  exception:  “He  that 
believeth  shall  not  make  haste.”  Dan.  vi:23  is  an¬ 
other:  “No  manner  of  hurt  was  found  on  him,  be¬ 
cause  he  believed  in  His  God.” 

If  the  two  main  passages  already  quoted  from 
Genesis  and  Habakkuk,  be  followed  in  the  New 
Testament,  it  will  be  seen  that  they  occur  at  critical 
points,  in  every  case,  and  that,  by  emphasizing 
some  one  word,  the  peculiar  relation  to  each  particu¬ 
lar  context  will  be  plain.  Thus,  in  Rom.  iv  :3,  it  is 
the  word  counted;  in  Gal.  iii  :6,  the  word  believed, 
and  in  James  ii:23,  righteousness.  Again,  in  quot¬ 
ing  Habakkuk,  in  Rom.  i:i7,  the  emphatic  word  is 
just,  as  though  answering  the  question,  Who  is  the 
just  or  righteous  man?  In  Galatians,  faith,  as 
though  the  question  were,  How  does  the  just  live? 
And  in  Heb.  x:38,  live,  as  though  the  question 
were,  What  is  it  that  the  just  does  by  his  faith? 
He  lives — is  both  made  alive  and  kept  alive  by  faith. 

234 


The  Problem  of  Faith. 


The  English  word,  believe,  means  primarily  to  be 
willing ,  and  faith  is  from  Mo ,  “I  trust,”  both  roots 
conveying  the  notion  of  voluntary  and  restful  con¬ 
fidence  in  another’s  word. 

The  simple,  literal  meaning  of  the  word  “amen” 
— it  shall  he  so — gives  much  light  on  the  subject.  In 
several  conspicuous  instances  of  faith  this  very 
form  of  words  is  used,  as  also  in  rebukes  of  unbe¬ 
lief. 

In  Luke  i  :20,  twice  we  find  the  shall  he  which  is 
in  such  contrast  to  Zacharias’s  doubting  frame,  the 
unbelief  which  proved  an  instant  paralysis  of  testi¬ 
mony.  And  in  verses  37  and  45,  we  have  the  two 
statements  that  “with  God  nothing  shall  be  impossi¬ 
ble,”  and  that  she  shall  be  blessed  that  “believed 
that  there  shall  he  a  performance  of  those  things 
which  were  told  her  of  the  Lord.” 

In  Acts  xxvii:25,  Paul  says  to  the  shipwrecked 
company,  “I  believe  God,  that  it  shall  he  even  as  it 
was  told  me,”  as  if  Gen.  xv:6  were  in  mind  (comp.  2 
Cor.  i:2o).  All  this  is  amening  God. 

Between  these  two  lessons  in  Luke  i  and  Acts 
xxvii  lie  all  the  sixty  years  of  Gospel  history,  one 
incident  being  before  the  birth  of  John  the  Baptist 
and  the  other  after  Christ’s  ascension,  and  within 
a  short  time  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  Many 
are  the  lessons  in  the  interval,  emphasizing  what 
the  angel  taught  Zacharias,  and  the  Spirit  taught 
Mary,  in  the  first  chapter  of  Luke.  We  are  to  say 

235 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


“It  shall  be”  to  all  promises  of  God ,  and  act  as 
though  we  believed. 

Thus  the  first  great  lesson  on  faith  was  found  in 
Abram’s  saying  to  the  promise  which,  humanly 
speaking,  was  impossible  of  fulfilment,  “it  shall  be 
so ;”  and  the  fundamental  principle  of  the  imputation 
of  righteousness  on  account  of  faith,  likewise  taught 
in  that  same  verse  in  Genesis,  is  further  confirmed 
and  amplified  in  Habakkuk. 

In  the  matter  cf  Righteousness  before  God,  no 
one  is  ever  regarded  or  treated  as  righteous,  on  the 
ground  of  anything  beginning  and  ending  in  him¬ 
self  ;  but  solely  because  of  his  laying  hold  by  faith 
on  the  Righteousness  of  God  in  Christ;  and  to  such 
union  with  Him  is  wholly  due  whatever  God  thinks 
of  us,  counts  us  to  be,  or  judicially  declares  to  be, 
as  accepted  in  His  sight.  This,  says  Canon  Hay- 
Aitken,  is  “not  a  legal  fiction,  but  a  divine  anticipa¬ 
tion/’  Our  standing  in  justification  is  therefore  as 
much  the  gift  of  grace  as  the  body  of  glory  which 
in  resurrection  shall  displace  the  body  of  our  abase¬ 
ment;  for  “God  giveth  a  body  as  it  hath  pleased 
Him.” 

This  word,  “faith,”  one  of  the  most  prominent  in 
Scripture,  is  found  about  three  hundred  times ;  and, 
including  its  near  equivalents,  “believe,”  “trust,” 
etc.,  the  number  is  much  increased.  But  the  num¬ 
ber  of  times  of  recurrence  fails  to  indicate  its  im¬ 
portance,  for  it  holds  the  commanding  position,  at 
the  vital  points  of  Scripture  argument  and  appeal, 

236 


The  Problem  of  Faith. 


and  at  the  critical  and  pivotal  points  in  holy  living. 
It  reminds  us  of  a  general  in  chief  in  an  army; 
however  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  private 
soldiers  there  may  be,  his  authority  and  influence 
outweigh  them  all ;  his  word  or  signal  wheels  into 
line  whole  regiments  and  battalions.  We  constantly 
meet  faith  in  commanding  positions,  in  the  Word 
of  God,  and  in  every  conceivable  application  to  spir¬ 
itual  life. 

On  the  human  side  of  Salvation  and  of  all  man’s 
relations  to  God,  faith  is  the  one  thing  on  which  all 
else  depends,  and  hence  most  necessary  to  be  un¬ 
derstood. 

The  nearest  approach  to  a  definition,  proper,  is 
found  in  two  places,  Luke  i  :45  (margin)  :  Blessed 
is  she  that  believed  that  there  shall  be  a  performance 
of  those  things  which  were  told  her  from  the  Lord;” 
and,  in  Hebrews  xi:ll,  “Sarah  judged  Him  faith¬ 
ful  who  had  promised.”  In  both  cases  these  godly 
women  are  commended  because  they  held  fast  to 
God’s  good  faith,  and  reckoned  on  it. 

A  definition  might  perhaps  be  framed,  somewhat 
thus :  “Faith  is  such  confidence  in  the  Faithfulness 
of  God,  as  leads  to  a  reception  of  His  testimony,  to 
such  love  and  trust  as  becomes  a  personal  bond  of 
union  with  Him,  and  to  corresponding  obedience 
and  testimony.”  But,  like  other  very  simple  things, 
it  is  difficult  to  define  because  of  its  simplicity,  but 
even  a  child  knows  what  it  is  and  shows  it  in  ac¬ 
tion.  It  begins  in  a  simple  act  of  reception,  than 
which  no  act  can  be  simpler.  It  grows  by  the  exer- 

237 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


cise  of  confidence,  more  and  more  implicit,  of  de¬ 
pendence  more  and  more  absolute,  and  obedience , 
more  and  more  cheerful  and  unquestioning. 

Two  conspicuous  texts  in  the  Gospel  according  to 
John  belong  among  the  rudiments. 

As  many  as  received  him,  to  them  gave  he  power 
to  become  the  sons  of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe 
on  his  name. 

Which  were  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of 
the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of  God. 

But  these  are  written,  that  ye  might  believe  that 
Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God;  and  that  be¬ 
lieving  ye  might  have  life  through  his  name  (John 
i:i2,  13;  xx:3i). 

The  main  purpose  of  John’s  narrative  is  to  induce 
faith  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  so 
that  life  may  come  through  believing.  It  is  im¬ 
portant,  therefore,  to  understand  what  believing  is, 
and  at  the  opening  this  is  made  clear — it  is  deceiv¬ 
ing  Him.  In  every  case  where  the  word  believe  is 
used  throughout  this  Gospel  the  word  receive  may 
be  substituted  without  impairing  the  sense. 

Here,  then,  is  the  starting  point  for  any  one  who 
would  exercise  saving  faith;  he  must  receive  Jesus 
as  Saviour,  Christ,  Son  of  God;  not  simply  the 
witness  God  gave  concerning  His  Son,  but  the  Son 
of  God  Himself,  as  a  child  receives  his  father’s  (word, 
“jump  and  I  will  catch  you/’  by  leaping  into  his 
arms,  or  as  a  woman  receives  a  husband  when  she 
links  her  life  to  his  in  inseparable  union.  Such  re- 

238 


The  Problem  of  Faith. 


ception  of  faith,  such  receiving  by  believing,  is  the 
initial  act  of  faith.  The  penitent,  believing  sinner 
simply  lets  go  all  other  dependence  and  drops  into 
tne  Everlasting  arms. 

To  as  many  as  thus  receive  Him,  even  to  them 
that  believe  on  His  name.  He  gives  authority  to 
become  sons  of  God  by  a  new  birth  of  the  Spirit. 
Regeneration  is  necessary,  but  with  that  we  have 
nothing  to  do.  It  is  God’s  act — a  gift  to  the  believ¬ 
er.  We  cannot  command  the  new  creation  any 
more  than  control  our  original  birth;  but  we  can 
believe  on  His  name  and  so  become  new  born  sons. 

This  is  one  of  the  primary  truths  of  the  whole 
Word  of  God: 

% 

This  Reception  of  God's  Witness  concerning  His 
Son ,  is  the  one  and  only  condition  of  Salvation;  all 
beyond  this  has  to  do  with  Sanctification,  Service 
and  Satisfaction  in  God. 

This  cannot  be  made  too  emphatic;  it  is  always 
the  “present  truth” — the  truth  needing  perpetual 
emphasis.  One  of  the  greatest  errors  to  the  preach¬ 
er,  and  snares  to  the  seeker,  is  so  to  misapply  the 
words  of  Scripture  as  to  make  the  terms  of  Salva¬ 
tion  obscure;  either  by  interpreting  injunctions  and 
directions,  addressed  to  the  disciple,  as  applying  to 
the  unsaved;  or  by  confusing  dispensational  truth 
so  as  to  apply  legal  maxims  to  gracious  dealings. 

Certain  texts  lay  emphasis  on  the  works  of  man , 
like  Ezekiel  xviii  :2 7 ;  Matthew  vi  :i4, 15 ;  Luke  x  125, 
26,  xviii  :i8;  Matt.  xix:29,  xxv:34,  35;  the  Gospel 


239 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


lays  stress  only  on  the  works  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  The  new  covenant  rests  on  a  wholly  differ¬ 
ent  basis  from  the  old.  (Exodus  xix:5,  6.)  The  old 
Dispensation  was  founded  upon  a  Theocracy.  Its 
basis  was  the  old  Sinaitic  covenant:  its  demand 
was  implicit  obedience.  But  men  proved  themselves 
wholly  unable  to  live  in  such  covenant  relations  with 
God,  under  the  most  favorable  conditions,  and, 
hence,  the  new  covenant,  in  which  the  contracting 
parties  are  God,  the  Father,  and  God,  the  Son — the 
latter  in  His  capacity  as  the  new  Head  of  a  Fallen 
Race  (Rom.  xi:32). 

At  the  close  of  our  Lord’s  earthly  ministry  this 
new  covenant  came  into  full  force.  Jewish  wor¬ 
ship  ceased  as  such.  The  Veil  of  the  Temple  was 
significantly  rent  asunder;  the  city  and  Temple  de¬ 
stroyed,  and  the  nation  scattered.  No  man  can 
“save  his  soul  alive”  by  the  best  legal  obedience  of 
which  he  is  capable. 

This  simplicity  of  receiving,  however,  brings  the 
having.  Hence  the  lesson  taught  in  John  i:i2  is 
emphasized  peculiarly  in  chapter  iii:i6,  and,  inverse 
36,  the  Holy  Spirit  gives  it  conspicuousness  by  an 
unusual  mode  of  expression.  In  the  original  we  have 
the  one  and  only  case  of  a  perfect  Iambic  couplet 
with  not  only  rythmic  feet  but  rhyme,  a  sentence 
which  may  be  put  into  a  corresponding  English 
couplet  thus : 

Whoso  on  the  Son  believeth 

Everlasting  Life  receiveth. 


240 


The  Problem  of  Faith. 


Did  not  God  mean  thus  to  isolate  this  verse  from 
its  surroundings  like  some  elevated  mountain  peak 
amid  a  landscape,  or  the  grand  central  figure  on  the 
canvas  of  an  artist?  It  is  one  of  the  great  lessons 
on  faith  that  life  comes  through  believing. 

The  apostle  John,  in  one  other  passage  in  his 
writings,  again  shows  how  Faith  works  unto  Sal¬ 
vation  in  enabling  us  to  receive  God’s  testimony 
concerning  His  Son. 

If  we  receive  the  witness  of  men,  the  witness  of 
God  is  greater;  for  this  is  the  witness  of  God  which 
he  hath  testified  of  his  Son. 

He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  of  God  hath  the  wit¬ 
ness  in  himself :  he  that  believeth  not  God  hath 
made  him  a  liar;  because  he  believeth  not  the  wit¬ 
ness  that  God  witnessed  of  his  Son. 

And  this  is  the  witness,  that  God  hath  given  to 
us  eternal  life,  and  this  life  is  in  his  Son. 

He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  life;  and  he  that  hath 
not  the  Son  of  God  hath  not  life. 

These  things  have  I  written  unto  you  that  be¬ 
lieve  on  the  name  of  the  Son  of  God;  that  ye  may 
know  that  ye  have  eternal  life,  even  ye  who  believe 
on  the  name  of  the  Son  of  God  (I  John  v  19-12 ). 

There  is  no  more  important  scripture  than  this 
as  containing  a  sort  of  resume  of  all  the  fundamen¬ 
tal  truths  of  salvation.  Even  much  so-called  evangel¬ 
ical  preaching  is  tainted  with  the  spirit  of  Legalism 
which  evoked  this  epistle  as  well  as  that  of  Paul  to 
the  Galatians. 


241 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


Note  some  truths  herein  contained: 

1.  One  great  fact:  the  substance  of  all  God's 
witness — that  God  hath  given  to  us  Eternal  Life, 
and  that  Life  is  in  His  Son. 

2.  Hence  another  great  fact:  He  that  hath  the 
Son  of  God  hath  the  Life ;  and  he  that  hath  not  the 
Son  of  God  hath  not  the  Life. 

3.  The  Witness  of  God  is  greater  than  the  wit¬ 
ness  of  Men,  and  hende  is  to  he  implicitly  received. 

4.  Not  to  receive  it  is  not  only  to  forfeit  blessing, 
but  to  impugn  God's  own  veracity ;  to  make  Him  a 
liar. 

5.  To  receive  it  is  to  have  Life,  and  having  Life 
to  have  Him ;  and  to  have  the  witness  in  one’s  self! 

Here  is  no  character  described — no  inward  ex¬ 
perience  outlined,  simply  one  act  called  for:  To 
BELIEVE  A  RECORD— that  God  so  Loved,  that 
He  Gave,  and  that  he  that  hath  the  Son  hath  Life. 

A  half  idiot,  hearing  these  words,  made  them  the 
major  premiss  of  a  simple  syllogism;  but  it  brought 
salvation : 

“CHRIST  came  to  save  sinners: 

I  AM  A  SINNER, 

Therefore  He  came  to  save  me.” 

How  plain  it  is  that  faith  is  not  to  be  confounded 
with,  nor  measured  by,  feeling .  No  mistake  is  more 
common  than  to  gauge  faith  by  conscious  emotion. 
Faith  is  confidence  in  facts  and  their  statement  in 
words.  Feeling  is  a  natural  coftsequence  of  faith, 


242 


The  Problem  of  Faith. 


but  to  get  our  eyes  on  feelings  rather  than  keep 
them  on  the  facts,  is  a  fatal  mistake ;  for  the  more 
we  turn  attention  from  facts  to  feelings  the  less 
feeling  we  have.  Steam  is  of  main  importance,  not 
for  sounding  the  whistle  but  for  moving  the  wheels ; 
and  if  there  is  a  lack  of  steam  we  shall  not  remedy 
it  by  attempting  by  our  own  effort  to  move  the 
piston  or  blow  the  whistle,  but  by  more  water  in  the 
boiler  and  more  fire  under  it.  The  remedy  for  lit¬ 
tle  joy  in  God  and  His  Salvation  is  a  clearer  knowl¬ 
edge  and  a  firmer  grasp  of  facts ,  to  turn  attention 
away  from  our  own  frames  to  God's  grace — not  to 
ponder  over  our  little  joy,  but  over  the  great  work 
of  Christ  which  is  the  reason  for  joy. 

Rev.  Evan  Hopkins  quaintly  says  that  Fact,  Faith 
and  Feeling  are  to  march  in  the  procession  in  a  reg¬ 
ular  order — Fact  leads,  Faith  with  the  eye  on  Fact, 
following,  and  Feeling,  with  the  eye  on  Faith,  bring¬ 
ing  up  the  rear.  All  goes  well  as  long  as  this  order 
is  observed.  But  the  moment  Faith  turns  his  back 
on  Fact  and  looks  at  Feeling,  the  procession  wab¬ 
bles. 

Matthew  Henry  said,  that  “when  he  wanted  a 
faith  of  assurance,  he  lived  by  a  faith  of  adherence/* 
Yet  these  are  not  two  faiths,  but  different  degrees 
of  faith — the  faith  which  begins,  and  always  begins, 
in  adherence  to  Christ,  and  then  grows  into  assur¬ 
ance.  We  first  lay  hold  of  Christ  in  his  Word,  and 
then  the  hold  gives  us  an  assurance  that  we  have 
grasped  One  who  is  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost; 

243 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


properly  speaking,  faith  is  only  adherence,  and  as¬ 
surance  the  effect  of  adhering. 

Two  other  lessons  in  the  Old  Testament  cluster 
about  the  word  trust  which  is  close  of  kin  to  the 
word  believe. 

Psalm  ix,  xo;  “They  that  know  Thy  name  will 
put  their  trust  in  Thee.”  To  the  question,  so  often 
asked,  “How  can  faith  be  increased?”  it  gives  the 
only  answer  :  by  knowing  God  better,  pis  name  is 
His  nature — His  character;  and  those  that  know 
God  will  put  their  trust  in  Him — not  will  feel  that 
they  ought  to,  for  trust  is  not  born  of  mere  duty. 
Parents  sometimes  complain  that  their  children  do 
not  trust  them,  without  honestly  asking  whether 
they  have  shown  themselves  trustworthy.  How 
many  promises  are  made  to  a  child  which  it  is  not 
meant  to  fulfil,  and  how  many  threats  that  it  is  not 
intended  to  carry  out — both  mere  expedients  to  in¬ 
duce  good  behaviour,  and  no  one  detects  a  lie  or 
insincerity  so  instinctively  as  a  child.  The  only 
way  for  a  parent  to  insure  trust  is  to  inspire  it,  and 
then  it  is  involuntarily  exercised.  So,  there  is  but 
one  way  to  learn  to  trust  God  more,  and  that  is  to 
learn  to  know  Him  more.  We  must  not  look  at 
our  faith  if  we  would  have  it  grow ;  but  look  at  the 
Object  of  faith;  to  know  how  infinitely  worthy  He 
is  of  trust  is  to  confide  in  Him,  without  even  willing 
it.  We  have  need  only  to  cultivate  personal,  prac¬ 
tical,  living  acquaintance  with  God,  and  implicit 
faith  naturally  follows  such  fellowship. 


244 


The  Problem  of  Faith. 


The  prophecy  of  Isaiah  is  rich  in  lessons  on  faith. 
The  prophet  says  to  Ahaz,  in  a  crisis  of  peril,  “Fear 
not,  neither  be  fainthearted !  *  *  *  If  ye  will  not  be¬ 
lieve  surely  ye  shall  not  be  established.,,  About  a 
hundred  and  forty  years  after,  Jehoshaphat,  at  an¬ 
other  crisis  of  battle,  repeated  the  same  sentiment, 
only  in  the  positive  form:  “Believe  in  the  Lord, 
your  God;  so  ye  shall  be  established;  believe  His 
prophets,  so  shall  ye  prosper/'  (2  Chron.  xx:20.) 
When  the  author  of  the  scriptures  would  mark 
some  lesson  as  though  to  underscore  it,  He  often 
uses  rhyme  and  rhythm,  or  a  play  on  words.  There 
is  an  assonance  in  the  Hebrew,  between  these  two 
clauses,  which  it  is  not  easy  to  transfer.  The  effect 
is,  “Be  firm  in  faith,  or  ye  will  not  be  confirmed  in 
fact." 

The  Septuagint  translates,  “nisi  credideritis,  non 
intelligetis." 

We  might  approximate  the  original  paronomasia, 
thus: 

“If  in  God  ye  do  not  confide, 

Surely  in  strength  ye  shall  not  abide;" 
or,  “If  to  believe  ye  are  not  able 
Neither  shall  ye  become  stable." 

The  thought  is  that  in  faith  lies  the  sole  secret  of 
stability. 

Chapter  xxvi:3,  4,  conveys  another  lesson,  and 
again  in  a  form  that  no  English  rendering  can  do 
justice  to,  or  adequately  represent.  This  occurs  in 

245 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


Judah’s  “Song  of  Salvation/’  in  the  coming  day  of 
Restoration,  and  the  utmost  resources  of  language 
are  taxed  to  express  the  inspired  thought,  and  par¬ 
ticularly  is  that  favorite  figure  of  speech — repetition 
— resorted  to,  to  give  emphasis. 

“Thou  wilt  garrison  him  in  peace,  peace, 
Whose  mind  is  stayed  on  Thee, 

Because  in  Thee  he  trusteth. 

In  Jehovah  trust  ye  forever! 

For,  in  Jah  Jehovah, 

Is  the  Rock  of  Ages.” 

As  though  overwhelmed  with  the  vision  of  the 
Eternal  and  unchangeable  faithfulness  of  Jehovah, 
the  prophet  can  only  pile  up  the  same  words  one 
upon  another:  “in  peace,  in  peace,”  as  though  at 
each  repetition  there  were  heavier  stress  on  the 
word.  And,  when  he  attempts  to  express  the  Divine 
resting  place  of  such  trust,  he  can  only  think  of  the 
Rock  of  Ages  that  stands — a  petrified  shaft  of  eter¬ 
nity — when,  like  the  clouds  that  mantle  it,  all  tem¬ 
poral  things  vanish,  and  reappear  and  vanish  a 
thousand  times.  Here  occurs  the  only  triplicate  use 
of  the  sacred  name,  Jehovah,  it  being  thrice  found 
in  this  one  verse,  once  in  its  abbreviated  form,  “Jah.” 
That  this  stanza  in  the  Song  of  Salvation  is  meant  to 
be  an  inspiration  to  faith  for  all  ages,  is  shown  by 
its  being  practically  repeated  by  Paul  in  Philippians 
iv  :y: 

“The  peace  of  God  which  passeth  understanding, 

246 


The  Problem  of  Faith. 


shall  garrison  your  hearts  and  minds  through  Christ 
Jesus/' 

Here  the  Holy  Spirit  comments  on  His  own  Word 
in  Isaiah.  “Peace,  peace,"  means  “peace  which 
passes  all  understanding" — too  deep  to  be  sounded, 
too  high  to  be  measured.  The  word  “garrison"  is 
likewise  peculiar  to  both  passages,  proving  that  the 
New  Testament  writer  had  the  Old  Testament 
prophet  in  mind.  God’s  Peace  is  His  angel  guard, 
encamping  round  about  the  praying  and  believing 
soul,  and  assuring  deliverance  from  anxious  care. 

Turning  now  again  to  the  New  Testament,  we 
have,  in  Matthew  viiino  and  xv:28,  the  only  two 
cases  in  which  faith  is  pronounced  “great ;"  and  this 
suggests  the  question,  what  constitutes  great  faith? 

Both  these  were  Gentiles,  and,  as  such,  outside  of 
Covenant  limits;  and,  in  the  case  of  the  woman,  she 
was  under  the  ban  of  the  curse  resting  on  the 
Canaanites.  This  makes  these  instances  the  more 
instructive  Our  Lord  could  never  say  to  any  Jews, 
“Your  faith  is  great,"  though  often  He  had  to  re¬ 
buke  even  His  own  disciples  or  “little"  faith;  but 
twice  He  paid  this  high  tribute  to  a  Gentile. 

And  why?  Most  people  in  those  days  expected  all 
healing  power  to  depend  on  His  personal  presence 
and  touch,  but  the  Centurion,  when  He  offered  to 

i 

come  and  heal  his  servant^  answered: 

“Lord,  I  am  not  worthy  that  thou  shouldest  come 
under  my  roof :  but  speak  the  word  only,  and  my 
servant  shall  be  healed. 


247 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

For  I  am  a  man  under  authority,  having  soldiers 
under  me :  and  I  say  to  this  man ,  Go,  and  he  goeth ; 
and  to  another,  Come,  and  he  cometh;  and  to  my 
servant,  Do  this,  and  he  doeth  it  ” 

He  believed  Christ  able  to  heal  by  a  word,  spoken 
at  a  distance;  and  that  He,  as  Son  of  God,  had 
under  His  control  all  the  occult  forces  of  the  unseen 
realm,  and  could  bid  Disease  and  even  Death,  “Be¬ 
gone  !”  and  they  would  obey.  Our  Lord  found  no 
such  faith  in  Israel — even  in  Mary  and  Martha. 

The  woman  of  Canaan  was  a  still  more  marvellous 
example  of  faith.  Our  Lord  went  from  near  the 
Galilean  lake  to  the  borders  of  the  Mediterranean, 
apparently  to  bless  this  woman;  for  the  record  of 
the  journey,  to  and  fro,  takes  note  of  nothing  else 
Yet  her  repeated  appeals  for  mercy  on  her  afflicted 
daughter  met  at  first  a  stubborn  silence,  then  formal 
refusal,  and  then  apparent  reproach,  bordering  on 
insult.  Not  only  did  the  compassionate  Jesus  first 
“answer  her  not  a  word ;”  and  then  remind  her  that 
His  mission  was  “to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  House  of 
Israel,”  not  to  those  whom  they  regarded  as  accursed 
and  devouring  wolves ;  but  He  finally  met  her  ago¬ 
nizing  prayer,  “Lord,  help  me!”  by  saying:  “It  is 
not  meet  to  take  the  children’s  bread  and  to  cast  it  to 
dogs!”  the  only  time  He  ever  even  appeared  to  in¬ 
sult  a  humble  suppliant. 

It  is  true  the  original  is  a  milder  term — ulittle 
dogs” — pups,  such  as  were  the  children’s  pets  and 
playmates.  But  we  cannot  account  for  this  solitary 

248 


The  Problem  of  Faith. 


instance  of  apparent  harshness,  unless  it  was  to  draw 
out  and  exhibit  her  unique  faith.  She  triumphantly 
turned  His  argument  about,  and,  taking  the  place 
He  gave  her  as  a  little  dog,  transformed  His  objec¬ 
tion  into  a  reason :  “Truth,  Lord;  yet  the  little  dogst 
under  the  table,  eat  of  the  children's  crumbs  that  fall 
from  their  master's  table!”  It  was  the  logic  and  wit 
of  importunity !  the  only  case  in  which  He  was  ever 
refuted  out  of  His  own  mouth ;  and,  of  course,  He 
had  to  give  her  what  she  sought.  Our  faith,  in  com- 
parison  to  such  as  hers,  is  so  small  that  it  takes 
God’s  microscope  of  love  to  discover  it! 

An  example  of  restfulness  in  such  faith  (John  iv: 
46-54),  is  found  in  the  man  who  believed  the  word 
of  Jesus  and  went  his  way,  so  assured  that  he  ap¬ 
pears  not  to  have  gone  home  until  the  next  day, 
tarrying  somewhere  over  night. 

The  Epistle  to  the  ^Hebrews  gives  two  whole  chap¬ 
ters  to  the  triumphs  of  Faith  and  the  defeats  which 
come  through  unbelief  (xi,  xii). 

Here  we  are  told  that  “faith  is  the  substance  of 
things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen: 
for  by  it  the  elders  obtained  a  good  report,”  or, 
“faith  is,  of  things  hoped  for,  a  confidence :  of  facts 
unseen,  a  conviction.” 

The  substance  of  this  is  that  faith  gives  substan* 
tial  reality  and  verity  to  what  is  vague  and  vision¬ 
ary  without  it,  by  reason  of  its  distance  in  the  fu¬ 
ture,  or  its  indistinctness  in  the  unseen.  It  brings  the 
future  near  and  makes  vivid  the  invisible. 

249 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


As  to  the  statement  that  by  it  the  elders  or  old- 
time  believers  had  witness  borne  to  them,  the  sim¬ 
plest  construction  is  the  safest,  that,  while  their  faith 
bore  witness  to  God’s  faithfulness.  His  faithfulness 
bore  answering  witness  to  their  faith.  That  this  is 
the  true  interpretation  the  whole  chapter,  set  to  this 
keynote,  gives  proof;  for  every  instance  of  victor¬ 
ious  faith  here  adduced  exemplifies  both  parts  of 
this  reciprocal  witness.  All  these  worthies  testified 
to  God  by  trusting  Him,  and  He  testified  to  them 
that  they  had  not  trusted  in  vain. 

Two  passages  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  also 
are  significant,  and  like  the  two  from  John,  stand  at 
the  beginning  and  close  like  sentinels  at  the  gates; 
(Romans  i:5),  “for  obedience  to  the  faith”  (xvi: 
26)  “for  the  obedience  of  faith.”  This  is  declared  to 
be  the  purpose  of  the  worldwide  preaching  of  the 
Gospel,  and  in  both  cases  it  is  the  same  in  the 
original — “the  obedience  of  faith,”  and  it  seems  to 
emphasize  the  fact  that  Faith  is  the  mother  of  obedi¬ 
ence.  True  believing  leads  to  doing  the  Will  of  God. 
How  could  it  be  otherwise!  Believing  is  receiving 
Christ;  receiving  Christ  brings  the  new  birth  of 
sonship,  sonship  impels  to  obedience.  As  James  in¬ 
sists,  faith  is  shown  by  works .  The  works  do  not 
justify  the  believer,  but  they  justify  the  faith — they 
prove  it  genuine. 

Abel  bore  witness  to  God  when  he  offered  the 
lamb;  God  bore  witness  to  him  when  He  had  re- 


250 


The  Problem  of  Faith. 


spect  unto  him  and  his  offering — doubtless  sending 
fire  from  heaven  to  consume  it. 

Noah  conspicuously  witnessed  to  God,  by  building 
the  Ark  and  preparing  for  the  flood,  stedfastly 
maintaining  his  testimony  to  God’s  truth,  amid  the 
jeers  of  blaspheming  rejecters  and  scoffers  of  his 
warning  message.  God  witnessed  to  Noah  by  the 
judgments  He  poured  out  on  an  unbelieving  world, 
and  the  mercies  He  showed  to  one  believing  house¬ 
hold  in  their  miraculous  preservation. 

Every  man  and  woman,  mentioned  in  this  holy 
succession  of  believers,  in  confidence,  dependence 
and  obedience  toward  God  testified  to  Him  as  worthy 
of  trust  and  surrender;  and  to  every  such  believer 
He  gave  answering  testimony  in  such)  ways  as  suited 
their  needs.  Thus  understood,  the  otherwise  ob¬ 
scure  statement  in  the  opening  verses  of  this  great 
chapter  on  Faith  and  its  victories  becomes  not  only 
plain  but  luminous :  “By  faith  the  Elders  had  witness 
borne  to  them.”  This  Eleventh  of  Hebrews  becomes 
a  sort  of  monument  built  to  Old  Testament  heroes — 
where  each  has  a  niche  and  an  inscription,  and  over 
the  whole  memorial  structure  we  read  this  double 
motto : 

“Faith  bears  witness  to  God: 

God  bears  witness  to  Faith.” 

The  climax  of  all  testimonies  to  the  power  of 
Faith,  is  found  in  our  Lord’s  words : 

“Have  faith  in  God!  For  verily  I  say  unto  you. 


251 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


that  whosoever  shall  say  unto  this  mountain,  “Be 
thou  removed,  and  be  thou  cast  into  the  sea !”  and 
shall  not  doubt  in  his  heart,  but  shall  believe  that 
those  things  which  he  saith  shall  come  to  pass ;  he 
shall  have  whatsoever  he  saith”  (Mark  xi:22,  23). 

The  original  injunction  cannot  easily  be  translated, 
but  certainly  means  more  than  “Have  faith  in  God.” 
Literally,  Christ’s  injunction  is  “ Hold  faith  of  God.” 
As  “faith”  and  “faithfulness”  are  so  akin  as  to  be 
often  interchangeable,  the  thought  seems  to  be  “Hold 
fast  the  faithfulness  of  God” — that  is,  reckon  on 
God's  good  faith;  and,  so  regarded,  it  goes  far  to 
unlock  the  whole  mystery  of  the  subject. 

The  statement,  however,  which  accompanies  it, 
ascribing  to  faith  such  unlimited  power,  demands 
further  examination,  and  a  careful  comparison  of 
this  with  other  like  utterances  of  our  Lord  may 
serve  again  to  illuminate  His  meaning.  Two  other 
conspicuous  passages,  at  least,  contain  language  so 
strikingly  similar  that  the  three  should  be  put  side 
by  side,  that  both  the  points  of  likeness  and  of  un¬ 
likeness  may  be  apparent. 

And  Jesus  rebuk-  Master,  behold,  Take  heed  to 
ed  the  demon,  and  the  fig  tree  which  yourselves:  If  thy 
he  departed  out  of  thou  cursedst  is  brother  *  *  tres- 

him:  and  the  child  withered  away.  pass  against  thee, 
was  cured  from  And  Jesus  an-  seven  times  in  a 

that  very  hour.  swering  saith  unto  day,  and  seven 

Then  came  the  them.  Have  faith  in  times  in  a  day  turn 
disciples  to  Jesus  God.  again  to  thee,  say- 

apart,  and  said,  For  verily  I  say  ing,  I  repent;  thou 
Why  could  not  we  unto  you,  That  shalt  forgive  him. 
cast  him  out?  whosoever  shall  say  And  the  apostles 

And  Jesus  said  unto  this  mountain,  said  unto  the  Lord, 
onto  them,  Because  Be  thou  removed,  Increase  our  faith, 
of  your  unbelief ;  and  be  thou  cast  And  the  Lord 

for  verily  I  say  un-  into  the  sea;  and  said,  If  ye  had 

252 


The  Problem  of  Faith. 


to  you4  If  ye  have 
faith  as  a  grain  of 
mustard  seed,  ye 
shall  say  unto  this 
mountain,  Remove 
hence  to  yonder 
place;  and  it  shall 
remove;  and  noth¬ 
ing  shall  be  impos¬ 
sible  unto  you. 

Matt,  xvii:  18-20. 


shall  not  doubt  in 
his  heart,  but  shall 
believe  that  those 
things  which  he 
saith  shall  come  to 
pass;  he  shall  have 
whatsoever  he 
saith. 

Mark  xi  :22,  23.  - 


faith  as  a  grain  of 
mustard  seed,  ye 
might  say  unto  this 
sycamine  tree,  Be 
thou  plucked  up  by 
the  root,  and  be 
thou  planted  in  the 
sea;  and  it  should 
obey  you. 

Luke  xvii:3-0. 


Here  the  emphasis  is  so  strong  upon  the  possibil¬ 
ities  of  faith  as  a  wonder-working  power,  that  we 
advance  not  by  steps  but  by  strides  in  the  revelation 
of  its  importance ;  and  several  features  are  specially 
noteworthy  • 

First,  faith  is  represented  as  conferring  authority. 

Our  Lord  does  not  say,  “if  ye  had  faith  ye  might 
pray  for  the  removal  of  the  mountain  obstacle,”  but 
ye  might  “say,  Be  thou  removed!”  This  is  the  lan¬ 
guage  of  a  fiat — “let  it  be  so !”  God  alone  issues  a 
fiat,  as  when  He  said  “Let  Light  be,”  and  Light 
was.  It  is  the  obvious  intention  here  to  teach  that 
faith  so  unites  the  believer  to  God  as  that  he  wields 
in  some  sense  divine  power  and  authority.  The  ref¬ 
erence  to  the  “grain  of  mustard  seed”  is  not  to  its 
size  so  much  as  to  its  sort — to  the  fact  that  it  hides 
in  itself  the  life  principle.  The  mountain,  however 
large,  is  but  a  mass  of  dead  matter,  inert,  and  cannot 
move  itself  an  inch.  But  the  mustard  seed,  however 
small,  has  life's  vital  energy  and  is  capable  of 
growth — of  that  strange  motion  downward,  upward 
and  outward,  which  makes  possible  for  the  least  of 
seeds  to  become  greatest  of  herbs.  He  who  is  one 
by  faith  with  God,  one  by  nature  with  Him,  learns 

253 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


to  .wield  supernatural  power.  Spiritual  life  has  its 
own  omnipotent  energy,  and  can  uplift  and  remove 
obstacles  that,  however  gigantic,  are,  in  comparison, 
but  dead. 

Secondly,  this  confidence  of  Faith  rises  to  the 
height  of  expectancy.  “Believe  that  ye  have  received 
them”  is  beyond  even  “and  shall  not  doubt  in  his 
heart,  but  shall  believe  that  those  things  which  he 
saith  shall  come  to  pass.”  Here  is  a  glimpse  of  how 
faith  rises  from  height  to  height  of  assurance;  first, 
believing  without  doubt  that  God’s  power  will  be 
exerted  and  His  promise  will  be  fulfilled,  and  then, 
rising  higher,  and  believing  that  it  is  already  done. 
We  have  a  way  of  expressing  similar  confidence  in 
men  of  truth  and  integrity ;  we  say  of  a  promise  from 
such,  “it  is  as  good  as  done.”  Much  of  our  business 
is  carried  on,  on  the  basis  of  such  faith  in  others’ 
word  or  promissory  note.  A  promise  to  pay  in  three 
months  is  discounted  at  the  bank  as  though  the 
money  were  already  on  deposit.  Infinitely  more 
when  we  have  God’s  promise  may  we  count  it  as 
already  fulfilled ,  and  build  on  it  securely. 

We  read  in  I  John  v:i4,  15:  “This  is  the  confi¬ 
dence  which  we  have  in  him,  that  if  we  ask  any¬ 
thing  according  to  his  will  he  heareth  us : 

“And  if  we  know  that  he  hear  us,  whatsoever  we 
ask  we  know  that  we  have  the  petitions  that  we  de¬ 
sired  of  him.” 

We  know  that  we  have  the  petitions  that  we  de¬ 
sired  of  him.  In  God's  action  there  is  no  time  ele- 


254 


The  Problem  of  Faith. 


ment  necessary.  “He  speaks  and  it  is  done.”  His 
promise  like  Himself  is  the  same  yesterday  and  to- 
day  and  forever.  Thus  faith  comes  to  count  with 
such  certainty  on  His  faithfulness  that  the  believer’s 
confidence  reckons  on  what  He  says,  as  already  done 
and  goes  forward  fearlessly,  believes  in  coming 
good  as  present  experience,  enters  into  its  enjoy¬ 
ment  beforehand  and  praises  Him  for  what  He  is 
about  to  do. 

Further  light  is  thrown  on  these  amazing  possi¬ 
bilities  of  faith,  when  we  compare  the  occasions  on 
which  such  words  were  spoken. 

In  one  case,  a  figtree  has  been  withered  by  a 
word;  in  another  a  demon  cast  out;  and  in  another 
an  evil  disposition  is  referred  to  as  thus  uprooted. 
These  suggest  three  departments  for  the  exercise  of 
power,  which  curiously  cover  and  comprehend  the 
whole  range  and  scope  of  its  operation.  The  figtree 
represents  material  nature, — the  demon,  the  unseen 
realm  of  spirits;  and  the  disposition,  the  stronghold 
of  the  self  life.  Our  Lord  seems  to  teach  thus  a 
threefold  lesson ;  that  if  in  the  blind  forces  of  nature 
we  meet  obstacles  that  need  removal,  or  in  the  ma¬ 
lignant  and  intelligent  forces  of  the  demon  world,  or 
in  the  deep  rooted  resentment  of  our  own  unsancti¬ 
fied  nature — to  any  or  all  of  them  an  undoubting 
faith  is  equal ;  and  the  reason  is  because  such  faith 
is  born  of  God;  His  seed  remaineth  in  it,  and  it  has 
the  secret  of  His  life  and  power;  and,  like  any  other 


255 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


seed,  needs  only  right  conditions  for  the  exercise  of 
its  vital  energy,  to  demonstrate  its  true  potency. 

We  are  reminded  how,  minute  seeds,  dropping  be¬ 
tween  the  stones,  have  heaved  them  apart,  in  the 
castle  of  Banias,  in  Syria;  and  how,  when  an  infidel 
countess  directed  that  her  dust  should  be  guarded 
from  all  “resurrection”  by  huge  blocks  of  granite, 
again  little  seeds,  borne  by  the  wind,  and  growing 
in  the  interstices,  crowded  the  blocks  to  one  side 
and  exposed  her  costly  sarcophagus. 

Faith  so  unites  the  believer  with  God  as  to  make 
him,  in  his  finite  measure  a  partaker  of  His  nature, 
a  sharer  of  ;His  attributes,  a  wielder  of  His  power. 
When  the  seer  of  old  laid  hold  of  God’s  omniscience, 
he  saw  through  God’s  eyes,  both  into  the  Past  and 
Future.  When  holy  men  laid  hold  of  God’s  omnip¬ 
otence,  they  used  His  power,  and  wrought  miracles. 
Our  Lord  tells  us  that  faith  carries  the  potency  of 
the  divine  vitality,  and  makes  the  undoubting  be¬ 
liever  a  perpetual  miracle  worker.  He  has  in  him 
the  energy  that  moves  masses  of  matter  and  withers 
figtrees;  he  has  in  him  the  Almighty  Spirit,  who 
drives  out  demons ;  he  has  in  him  the  great  Renewer 
of  Disposition,  that  plucks  up  the  deep  rooted 
growths  of  evil  and  malicious  temper  and  makes 
plants  of  godliness  grow  in  their  place.  How  little 
do  we  know  of  such  faith ! 

The  power  of  faith  may  be  due  in  part  to  the 
fact  that  it  is  the  foe  of  all  slavish  fear .  It  is  said 
of  perfect  love  that  it  casts  out  fear  which  is  tor- 

256 


The  Problem  of  Faith. 


menting  or  brings  punishment  (I  John  iv:i8) — the 
fear  that  inflicts  torture,  creates  unrest  and  disqui¬ 
etude.  This  is  equally  true  of  perfect  faith,  which  is 
twin  sister  to  perfect  love ;  and  this  truth  may  have 
a  far  wider  bearing  than  we  imagine. 

One  of  the  great  scientific  discoveries  of  our  day 
is  that  every  mental  emotion  leaves  its  physical  traces 
and  produces  direct  effects  in  the  body.  The  breath¬ 
ing  betrays  anger,  resentment,  impatience  or  even 
excitement — so  does  the  pulse.  The  microscope  re¬ 
veals  in  the  blood  the  effect  of  all  moods,  especially 
what  are  morbid.  The  psychologist  predicates  fear, 
as  characteristic  of  the  mind,  when  he  finds  certain 
excited  or  irregular  action  of  the  heart ;  and  a  skilled 
microscopist,  by  close  examination  of  blood  corpus¬ 
cles,  can  trace  the  influence  of  dominant  emotions. 

This  may  in  a  measure  account  for  some  of  the 
cures  effected  by  Christian  Science.  In  the  “treat¬ 
ment”  which  these  strange  practitioners  use,  their 
first  aim  is  to  persuade  the  patient  that  disease  and 
pain  are  not  real,  but  imaginations  of  “mortal  mind;” 
mental  fancies  rather  than  physical  facts,  and  there¬ 
fore  that  to  believe  them  to  be  unreal  is  to  banish 
them.  They  are  treated  as  ghosts  of  the  mind,  illu¬ 
sions  of  the  imagination,  torturing  their  victims  be¬ 
cause  their  credulity  and  superstition  invest  them 
with  actuality.  When  such  persuasion  fully  possesses 
the  mind,  fear  gives  way  to  a  sort  of  faith.  The  sick 
man  believes  he  has  really  no  disease.  The  shadow 
of  prospective  suffering,  perhaps  of  near  death,  is 

*5/ 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


dissipated,  and  calmness  takes  the  place  of  agitation. 
Possibly  this  is  the  explanation  of  many  cures.  It 
has  long  been  known  to  those  accustomed  to  visit 
sick  beds,  that  if  they  can  inspire  hope,  the  sick 
improve — that  to  create  confidence  in  recovery  is 
better  than  any  medicine.  I  have  seen  an  apparently 
dying  woman  rise  from  bed,  in  a  half  hour,  when 
authoritatively  assured  that  she  was  only  the  victim 
of  hysteria;  and  a  man,  helplessly  awaiting  an  oper¬ 
ation,  recover  health  with  incredible  swiftness  when 
told  by  both  physician  and  surgeon  that  there  was 
actually  no  need  of  the  knife.  Charles  H.  Spurgeon 
used  to  tell  how,  in  a  cholera  visitation,  when  ex¬ 
hausted  by  visits  to  the  sick  and  dying,  he  felt  the 
symptoms  of  the  disease,  he  caught  a  glimpse  of  thfe 
promise  from  the  ninety-first  psalm :  “He  that  dwell- 
eth  in  the  secret  place,”  etc.,  in  a  shop  window ;  and 
at  once  taking  refuge  in  that  promise,  all  fear  dis¬ 
appeared  and  with  it  all  symptoms  of  disease.  Faith 
may  have  power,  as  a  therapeutic ,  yet  undreamed  of, 
and  The  Word  of  God  often  refers  to  those  who 
“have  faith  to  be  healed”  (Acts  iii:i6). 

All  great  forces  have  their  conductors  and  non¬ 
conductors.  One  of  the  greatest  problems  to  be 
settled  before  electricity  could  be  harnessed  to  mech¬ 
anism,  as  a  motor,  messenger  and  illuminator,  was 
to  determine  what  media  were  and  what  were  not, 
conductors.  There  is  virtue  in  God  for  all  ills  bodily, 
mental,  spiritual,  and  there  are  conductors  and  non¬ 
conductors.  The  multitude  thronged  and  pressed 

258 


The  Problem  of  Faith. 


our  Lord,  coming  into  the  close  contact  of  a  crowd, 
yet  no  virtue  went  out  of  Him,  until  faith  touched 
Him  in  that  woman’s  hand.  Faith  is  the  great  con¬ 
ductor  of  Divine  blessing.  Fear  is  a  non-conductor, 
as  to  God,  but  the  Devil’s  conductor,  conveying 
all  diabolical  suggestion  and  malicious  interpreta¬ 
tion  of  God. 

Peter’s  faith  made  him  light  and  buoyant  and  he 
walked  on  the  water  to  go  to  Jesus.  But  when  fear 
was  aroused  it  made  him  heavy  and  he  began  to 
sink.  While  his  eye  was  on  Jesus  a  supernatural 
power  was  his.  When  the  daughter  of  Jairus  was 
dead ,  even  then  our  Lord  said,  “Be  not  afraid,  only 
believe!”  and  (Psalm  xci),  the  great  Psalm  of  im¬ 
munity  from  disease,  even  epidemics  of  plague, 
sounds  for  its  keynote,  “Thou  shalt  not  be  afraid.”* 


*The  Bishop  of  London  tells  how  the  wife  of  one  of  his 
clergy,  faced  with  the  prospect  of  an  operation  which 
might  cost  her  her  life,  was,  when  he  visited  her,  in  a 
state  of  moral  collapse.  The  physicians  and  surgeons 
recognized  that  the  operation  could  not  be  performed 
while  she  was  in  that  state.  He  spent  a  sacred  half  hour 
with  her;  and,  two  days  later,  she  walked  from  her 
room  to  the  operating  table  without  a  quiver.  The  sur¬ 
geons  exclaimed,  “What  has  the  Bishop  done  to  you?” 
She  replied,  “Something  which  none  of  you  could  have 
done!”  The  Bishop  referred  to  the  incident  simply  as 
showing  that  healing  and'sustaining  forces  may  be  exert¬ 
ed  upon  the  body  by  high  exercises  of  the  soul.  He  adds 
that,  by  the  use  of  this  one  truth  the  so-called  “Christian 
Science"  propaganda  has  attained  its  present  proportions. 

259 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


For  all  evils  in  the  life  of  the  believer  and  of  the 
Church,  God  has  provided  remedies ;  and  one  of  the 
foremost  of  them  is  faith.  There  are  three  distinct 
spheres  for  the  operation  of  faith,  and  in  each  of 
them  it  has  a  special  and  definite  character  of  its 
own  which  particularly  fits  it  for  that  particular 
realm.  The  three  spheres  are  salvation,  sanctifica¬ 
tion  and  service.  In  the  sphere  of  salvation,  faith 
simply  receives;  in  that  of  sanctification,  it  goes  fur¬ 
ther,  and  reckons;  in  the  sphere  of  service,  it  goes 
still  further,  and  risks.  Three  leading  texts  may  be 
selected  to  set  forth  representatively  these  great 
truths,  each  of  them  unique  in  its  way : 

John  1:12:  “But  as  many  as  received  Him,  even  to 
them  that  believe  on  His  name,  gave  He  power  (au¬ 
thority)  to  become  the  sons  of  God.,,  Here  believing 
on  His  name  is  made  equivalent  to  receiving  Him, 
and  is  the  one  condition  of  becoming  the  sons  of 
God. 

Acts  xxvi:i8:  “Inheritance  among  them  which 
are  sanctified  by  faith  that  is  in  Me.”  Here  faith 
in  the  Lord  Jesus  is  made  as  vital  to  sanctification 
as  it  is  elsewhere  to  justification. 


Heresy  flourishes  by  the  amount  of  truth  it  contains. 
The  crude  thinking  and  the  absurd  pretentions  of  this 
cult  would  never  have  had  the  influence  they  have,  if 
the  Church,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  medical  profession, 
ore  the  other,  had  recognized  the  immense  power,  amount¬ 
ing  often  to  what  seems  the  miraculous,  of  the  higher 
mental  states  upon  physical  conditions.  It  is  now  for  both 
these  departments  of  service  to  recover  their  lost  ground. 

260 


The  Problem  of  Faith. 


Philippians  ii  :i7 :  “The  sacrifice  and  service  (or 
ministration)  of  your  faith/’  Paul  represents  him¬ 
self  as  a  libation  of  blood,  poured  out  upon  the  sac¬ 
rifice  and  service  of  their  faith,  offered  to  God. 

These  three  representative  passages  suffice  to  pre¬ 
sent  this  threefold  thought — that  faith  has  a  saving, 
a  sanctifying,  and  a  serving  aspect;  and  it  is  impor¬ 
tant  now  to  learn  how  it  is  that  faith  operates  in 
these  its  several  spheres. 

(i)  Salvation  lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  the 
rest ;  and  here,  therefore,  faith  is  seen  in  its  simplest 
possible  form  and  exercise.  Salvation  is  offered  un¬ 
to  all,  and  hence  it  must  be  adapted  to  the  worst  and 
the  weakest.  If  there  were  in  it  anything  hard  to 
understand  or  perform,  it  would  be  removed  from 
the  capacity  of  the  very  souls  who  need  it  most. 
Sin  has  two  marked  effects — it  both  cripples  the 
will  and  weakens  the  mind.  Men  sunk  in  sin  are 
found  to  be  not  much  above  the  beasts.  God  shows 
Himself  to  be  a  gracious  God  by  bringing  salvation 
near  to  the  least  and  the  lowest.  None  are  so  bad 
as  to  be  beyond  hope,  and  none  so  feeble-minded  as 
to  be  beyond  understanding.  Here,  then,  faith  must 
be  very  simple,  or  it  could  not  reach  the  most  needy. 

And  the  faith  that  saves  does  nothing,  therefore, 
but  take  God’s  free  gift.  Several  words  are  used, 
such  as:  “Look,”  “hear,”  “taste,”  “take,”  “come,” 
“trust,”  “choose.”  These  words  all  convey  the  idea 
of  some  form  of  reception — with  the  eyes,  ears, 
mouth,  hands,  feet,  heart,  and  will  He  who  knows 

26 1 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


enough  to  throw  away  a  worthless  bauble,  and  reach 
out  and  take  instead  a  priceless  treasure,  knows 
enough  to  give  up  his  own  hopeless  efforts,  and 
accept  the  finished  work  of  Christ. 

Thus  the  child  in  years,  or  in  understanding,  may 
become  the  receiver  of  all  the  blessing  implied  in 
salvation.  It  takes  very  little  knowledge  or  intelli¬ 
gence  to  accept  God's  free  gift — eternal  life. 

(2)  Sanctification  is  the  experience  of  one  al¬ 
ready  saved,  but  desirous  of  being  delivered  from 
sin’s  power  and  control  as  well  as  penalty,  and  made 
godlike.  This  stage  demands  a  higher  exercise  of 
faith,  because  those  who  have  learned  the  first  les¬ 
son  are  further  on  than  before,  and  better  prepared 
for  the  second. 

In  sanctification,  the  great  word  for  faith  is  “reck¬ 
on”  (Romans  vi:2) — a  word  which  means  to  count 
upon  a  thing  as  true.  The  Lord  Jesus  seems  to 
have  the  same  thought  in  mind  in  Mark  xi:22: 
count  upon  God’s  faithfulness.  He  assures  you  of 
His  own  presence  with  you  and  in  you  by  His  Spirit. 
Receive  His  assurance,  and  reckon  on  His  fidelity. 
Learn  habitually  to  think  of  yourself  as  God  thinks 
of  you.  Count  upon  His  love  and  grace  and  power. 

There  are  at  least  three  grand  representative  ex¬ 
periences  in  which  such  reckoning  faith  proves  the 
all-sufficient  secret :  T emptation,  in  which  we  reckon 
on  His  power  to  resist  and  overcome;  Trial,  in 
which  we  reckon  on  His  power  to  strengthen  and 
support;  and  Temper ,  in  which  we  reckon  on  His 

262 


The  Problem  of  Faith. 


power  to  subdue  and  transform.  Such  reckoning 
on  God  is  plainly  a  further  exercise  of  faith’s  recep¬ 
tive  power.  It  goes  so  far  as  to  appropriate  God’s 
strength.  It  lays  hold  of  omnipotence,  and  finds 
His  strength  made  perfect  in  weakness,  and  at  the 
very  point  of  weakness  most  manifesting  its  won¬ 
derful  potency. 

(3)  The  third  sphere  of  faith  is  service,  which 
expresses  what  is  rendered  unto  Him.  In  salvation 
and  sanctification  something  is  rendered  unto  us — 
received  and  appropriated  from'  Him;  but  in  ser¬ 
vice  the  whole  nature  goes  out  in  response  to  Him, 
seeking  to  offer  something  that  He  can  receive. 
Hence  it  represents  the  highest  exercise  of  faith, 
and  implies  both  the  others.  It  represents  the  sphere 
in  which  the  saved  and  sanctified  soul  seeks  to  do 
the  will  of  God,  and  glorify  Him  by  a  surrender  of 
spirit,  soul,  and  body,  as  a  grateful  offering. 

Here  the  conspicuous  Bible  word  is  “witness”  and 
as  we  have  seen  in  the  great  chapters,  Hebrews  xi- 
xii,  specially,  the  triumphs  of  faith  and  service  are 
most  fully  set  forth.  In  xi:39,  we  are  told  how  all 
these  heroes  had  Witness  borne  to  them,  and  in  xii  :i 
they  are  presented  as  bearing  witness.  Those  who 
have  already  “believed  to  the  saving  of  the  soul’’ 
are  now  put  before  us  as  bearing  witness  to  God. 

But  let  it  be  observed  that  this  bearing  witness  to 
God  always  implies  a  risk  or  venture.  There  is  an 
abandonment  of  self  to  God,  and  in  this  mainly  the 
witness  consists.  Noah  withstood  a  corrupt  and  un  • 


263 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


believing  world,  and  risked  everything  on  God’s  be¬ 
ing  true.  Abraham  went  out  not  knowing  whither 
he  went,  and  even  laid  his  son  of  promise  on  the 
altar,  trusting  God  to  raise  him;  from  the  dead. 
Moses  renounced  Egypt,  with  all  its  treasures  and 
pleasures,  and  undertook  to  lead  a  vast  host  into  a 
wilderness,  depending  on  God  to  supply  all  needs. 
In  xi  .*32-40,  we  have  a  brief  resume  of  the  triumphs 
of  faith,  and  the  one  great  feature  in  all  these  lines 
of  witnesses  is  the  risk  rum  the  venture  of  faith 
upon  God — Gideon,  with  his  three  hundred  and  only 
lamps  and  pitchers ;  Daniel,  going  unarmed  into  the 
lions’  den,  and  the  three  Hebrew  children  into  the 
fiery  furnace;  Jonathan  and  his  armour-bearer  dar¬ 
ing  to  advance  against  a  whole  garrison;  Joshua, 
trusting  God  and  taking  Jericho  without  a  blow 
struck  or  any  dependence  on  carnal  weapons.  Every 
true  servant  of  God  accepts  some  such  a  venture  for 
God.  That  is  his  way  of  witnessing,  and  God  al¬ 
ways  honours  such  witnessing  by  proving  His  faith¬ 
fulness. 

In  faith  is  found  also  the  potent  remedy  for  all 
the  evils  of  Materialism,  Secularism,  Rationalism, 
Ritualism — whatever  hinders  individual  or  church 
development.  It  keeps  the  soul  in  the  attitude  of 
waiting  on,  and  receiving  from,  God.  It  bends  the 
energies  of  the  saved  soul  upon  that  higher  salvation 
found  in  actual  likeness  to  Christ ;  and  hence  what¬ 
ever  is  unlike  Him  or  hinders  assimilation  to  Him 
will  be  detected  and  detested.  No  believer  can  be 

264 


The  Problem  of  Faith. 


absorbed  in  Godlikeness  and  at  the  same  time  en¬ 
grossed  in  worldliness.  He  will  see  that  some  things 
divide  attention,  divert  affection,  and  make  spiritual 
duties  and  delights  distasteful ;  and  he  will  naturally 
turn  from  them.  Godly  people  are  always  conspicu¬ 
ous  for  faith — for  simple  faith.  They  begin  by  the 
simple  receiving  from  Him  of  salvation ;  then  they 
advance  a  stage  further,  and  learn  the  secret  of 
reckoning  on  Him  for  all  He  promises  and  then 
they  find  it  easy  to  advance  to  the  point  of  risking 
everything  for  Him  whom  they  find  can  be  reck¬ 
oned  on  to  keep  His  word.  His  truth  is  His  troth. 

From  first  to  last,  then,  faith  is  the  secret.  It 
makes  Salvation  ours  by  appropriation;  it  makes 
Sanctification  ours  by  assimilation ;  it  makes  Service 
ours  by  co-operation  and  identification. 


265 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  PRAYER. 

The  supreme  practical  importance  of  this  subject 
entitles  it  to  more  exhaustive  treatment,  and  the  bib¬ 
lical  teaching  upon  it  to  the  more  prominence. 

I.  There  are  certain  prominent  conditions  of  pre¬ 
vailing  prayer: 

1.  Sin  no  longer  cherished  but  forsaken. 

“If  I  regard  iniquity  in  my  heart,  the  Lord  will 
not  hear  me”  (Psalm  Ixvi  :i8). 

2.  A  forgiving  spirit  toward  others. 

“When  ye  stand  praying,  forgive,  if  ye  have 
ought  against  any”  (Mark  xi:25). 

3.  A  spiritual,  not  a  carnal  motive. 

“Ye  ask,  and  receive  not  because  ye  ask  amiss, 
that  ye  may  consume  it  upon  your  lusts”  (James 
iv:3). 

4.  Asking  earnestly,  importunately. 

“Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you ; 

Seek,  and  ye  shall  find; 

Knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you.” 

(Matthew  vii:7«) 

5.  Asking  in  the  confidence  of  faith. 

“What  things  soever  ye  desire,  when  ye  pray, 
believe  that  ye  receive  them,  and  ye  shall  have 
them”  (Mark  xi:24). 


266 


The  Problem  of  Prayer. 

6.  Asking  according  to  God's  will. 

“This  is  the  confidence  that  we  have  in  Him,  that, 
if  we  ask  any  thing  according  to  His  will.  He 
heareth  us”  (I  John  v:i4). 

7-  Asking  always  in  Jesus'  Name. 

“Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Whatsoever  ye 
shall  ask  the  Father  in  My  name.  He  will  give  it 
you”  (John  xvi:23;  xiv:i3,  14). 

II.  The  Bible  addresses  rich  promises  to  praying 
souls. 

1.  The  possibilities  of  faith. 

“If  thou  canst  believe,  all  things  are  possible  to 
him  that  believeth”  (Mark  ix:23). 

2.  The  immediateness  of  help. 

“Before  they  call,  I  will  answer;  and  while  they 
are  yet  speaking,  I  will  hear”  (Isaiah  lxv  124 ;  Daniel 
ix  .-20-23). 

3.  The  unlimited  supply  of  grace. 

“My  God  shall  supply  all  your  need  according  to 
His  riches  in  glory  by  Christ  Jesus”  (Philippians 
iv:i9). 

4.  The  power  of  abiding  in  Christ. 

“If  ye  abide  in  Me,  and  My  words  abide  in  you, 
ye  shall  ask  what  ye  will,  and  it  shall  be  done  unto 
you”  (John  xv:y).  Compare  Romans  viii:26. 

5.  The  perfect  peace  of  prayer. 

“Be  careful  for  nothing:  but  in  every  thing  by 
prayer  and  supplication  with  thanksgiving  let  your 

267 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


requests  be  made  known  unto  God.  And  the  peace 
of  God,  which  passeth  all  understanding,  shall  keep 
your  hearts  and  minds  through  Christ  Jesus”  (Phil- 
ippians  iv:6,  7). 

6.  The  abundant  ability  of  God. 

“Able  to  do  exceeding  abundantly  above  all  we 
ask  or  think,  according  to  the  power  that  worketh 
in  us”  (Ephesians  iii:2o). 

7.  The  agreement  of  praying  souls. 

“If  two  of  you  shall  agree  on  earth  as  touching 
anything  that  they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  foi 
them  of  My  Father  which  is  in  heaven”  (Matthew 
xviii  .*19). 

III.  Scripture  history  furnishes  examples  of 
prayer ;  especially  of  prevailing  intercession. 

1.  Abraham  interceding  for  Sodom. 

Genesis  xviii  '.22- 33 ;  xix  129. 

2.  Moses  interceding  for  Israel. 

Exodus  xxxii  130-34;  Numbers  xiv:il-2l. 

3.  Samuel  interceding  for  King  and  people. 

I  Samuel  vii:5~i2;  xii:i6-25. 

4.  Elijah  interceding  for  fire  and  rain. 

I  Kings  xviii  :36~46;  James  v:i7,  18. 

5.  Daniel  interceding  for  captive  [Hebrews. 

Daniel  ii  116-23;  ix  13-23. 

6.  Paul  interceding  for  prisoners  and  saints. 

Acts  xvi:25,  26;  Ephesians  i  115-23 ;  iii  114-21. 

268 


The  Problem  of  Prayer. 


7.  Jesus  interceding  for  a  lost  world. 

Matthew  xxvi  137-46;  Hebrews  y  7.* 

If  Faith  belongs  at  the  basis  of  all  Life  in  God, 
Prayer  belongs  at  the  top.  Faith  is  rudimental; 
prayer  is  monumental ;  one,  a  corner  stone,  on  which 
all  is  built;  the  other,  a  capstone,  in  which  all  that 
is  built  reaches  climax  of  completeness.  Faith  makes 
possible  the  highest  achievement,  and  Prayer  is  the 
achievement,  beyond  whose  possibilities  there  seems 
to  lie  nothing  more. 

First  of  all,  then,  is  needed  a  knowledge  of  what 
prayer  is.  The  definition  in  the  Westminster  cate¬ 
chism  is :  “Prayer  is  the  offering  up  of  our  desires 
unto  God,  for  things  agreeable  to  His  will,  in  the 
name  of  Christ,  with  confession  of  our  sins,  and 
thankful  acknowledgment  of  Hs  mercies.” 

This  definition  is  scarcely  complete,  for  it  con¬ 
tains  no  reference  to  that  highest  revelation  of 
prayer,  which  represents  it  as  the  very  voice  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  interceding  in  us  and  “for  us  with 
groanings  which  cannot  be  uttered;”  and  it  takes 
no  account  of  that  highest  mystery  of  Prayer — as 
communion  with  God,  in  which  we  not  only  speak 


♦Those  who  would  still  further  study  the  promises  to 
the  prayerful  would  do  well  to  examine  carefully  the 
following,  among  many  others:  Hebrews  xi:6;  James 
1:5-7;  Matthew  vi:6-8;  James  v:i6-i8;  Luke  xviii:i-8; 
Matthew  ix:28,  29;  Mark  xi:22-24;  Hebrews  iv:i4-i6; 
Psalm  cxlv:i8,  19;  James  v:i4-i8;  I  John  iii:2i,  22;  etc. 

269 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

to  Him  but  He  to  us — a  privilege,  first  hinted  in 
Numbers  vii  189 : 

“When  Moses  was  gone  into  the  tabernacle  of 
the  congregation  to  speak  with  Him,  then  he  heard 
the  voice  of  One,  speaking  unto  him  from  off  the 
mercy-seat  that  was  upon  the  ark  of  testimony,  from 
between  the  two  cherubims:  and  he  spake  unto 
him.” 

The  supreme  triumph  of  the  praying  soul  is  not 
found  in  supplication  to  God,  but  in  revelation  of 
God. 

In  a  vision  and  a  Voice  divine. 

Not  a  venture  and  a  voice  of  mine. 

This  explains  our  Lord's  all-night  prayers — not 
so  much  all-night  asking  or  interceding,  as  a  spread¬ 
ing  out  of  His  whole  spirit  before  the  Father,  as 
Gideon  spread  out  his  fleece  on  the  plains  of  Jezreel 
to  get  it  filled  with  the  heavenly  dew.  The  closet 
is  not  an  oratory  only,  but  an  observatory — a  place 
of  vision. 

Our  Lord  therefore  explicitly  teaches,  in  his  first 
great  lesson  on  Prayer,  that  the  praying  suppliant 
must,  above  all  else,  cultivate  the  habit  of  absolute 
aloneness  with  God  in  the  closet,  or  closed  chamber 
of  communion. 

“But  thou,  when  thou  prayest,  enter  into  thy 
closet,  and  when  thou  hast  shut  thy  door,  pray  to 
thy  Father,  which  is  in  secret;  and  thy  Father, 
which  seeth  in  secret,  shall  reward  thee  openly” 
(Matt.  vi:6). 


270 


The  Problem  of  Prayer. 


This  brief  sentence  contains  eight  times  the  sec¬ 
ond  personal  pronoun,  singular,  “Thou,”  “thee,” 
“thy;”  which  is  implied  twice  more  in  the  verbs 
used — making  ten  times  in  all — something  unique  in 
the  Word  of  God. 

There  is  this  intense  emphasis  on  the  singular 
number  because  the  first  lesson  in  prayer  is  that  we 
must  shut  ourselves  in  with  God  alone  in  order  to 
a  vision  of  God.  The  greatest  necessity  of  spiritual 
life  is  “to  believe  that  He  is  and  is  a  Rewarder  of 
those  that  diligently  seek  Him.”  He  can  never  be 
a  reality  to  us  unless  we  meet  Him  habitually,  when 
no  one  else  is  present.  In  that  secret  chamber  where 
the  human  spirit  is  shut  in  with  Him  alone,  the  be¬ 
liever  learns  to  know  God,  and  to  “endure  as  see¬ 
ing  Him  who  is  invisible.”  The  great  danger 
is  that,  being  invisilbe,  He  will  seem  unreal,  while 
what  is  seen  fascinates  and  absorbs  attention;  and 
for  this  tendency  toward  materialism,  the  “closet” 
is  the  perpetual  corrective,  intended  to  bring  Heaven 
near  and  keep  it  near.  Prayer  is  therefore  more 
than  an  asking ;  it  is  a  receiving,  a  waiting,  a  learn¬ 
ing  of  God,  a  converse  and  communion,  in  which 
He  has  much  to  say,  and  we  have  much  to  hear 
and  learn. 

To  know  God,  as  He  is  known  only  in  this  closed 
chamber,  is  prayer's  first  triumph,  and  it  is  a  contin¬ 
uous  victory.  To  learn  to  make  unseen  things,  vivid 
and  visible,  and  the  invisible  God  indisputably  real, 
actual  and  true -this  comes  nearest  to  solving  all 

27i 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


other  spiritual  perplexities  and  removing  ail  other 
spiritual  difficulties.  It  makes  one  go  forth  from 
the  “closed”  place  to  the  “open” — the  outside  world 
of  strife  and  turmoil,  of  unreality  and  unverity,  of 
hallucination  and  temptation,  illusion  and  delusion, 
in  an  all  sufficient  panoply. 

Coleridge,  referring  to  earlier  and  sceptical  utter¬ 
ances  on  Prayer,  pronounced  them  folly,  and 
solemnly  said,  “Prayer  is  the  highest  possible  exer¬ 
cise  of  the  human  soul.” 

The  following  are  some  of  the  main  points  of 
Bible  teaciiing  as  to  prayer: 

1.  It  may  be  offered  “in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ,”  that  is,  by  virtue  of  our  identity  with  Him 
(Jno.  xvi  *23-27). 

2.  By  the  inward  moving  and  intercession  of  the 
Spirit  of  God  (Rom.  viii:i5,  26,  27). 

3.  It  is  inseparable  from  our  calling  and  ordina¬ 
tion  to  service  (John  xv:i6). 

4.  It  is  often  the  only  relief  in  deep  distress 
(Psalm  cxxx:i,  2). 

5.  It  is  the  natural  resort  of  the  child  who  realizes 
that  he  has  a  Heavenly  Father  (Matt,  vii  17-11). 

6.  It  has  the  definite  promise  of  unlimited  power, 
where  there  is  unlimited  faith  (James  i:6,  7;  Mark 
xi  122-24). 

7.  It  finds  access  with  boldness  in  the  mediation 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  (Hebrews  iv:i5,  16). 

The  prayer  realm  may  be  divided,  like  the  earth, 


272 


The  Problem  of  Prayer. 

into  three  distinct  zones,  the  torrid,  temperate  and 
frigid.  If  so,  surely  the  frigid  zone  is  ice-locked  by 
the  notion  that  God  is  amenable  to  no  law,  and  con¬ 
trolled  by  no  element  in  the  life  of  the  petitioner,  but 
can  and  does  answer  earnest  prayer,  if  at  all,  purely 
from  the  impulse  of  His  own  arbitrary  will  and 
power.  Those  who  hold  this  view  never  know  exact¬ 
ly  where  or  how  to  find  God,  or  in  just  what  mood 
He  will  be  found  in  reference  to  the  special  end  de- 
shed,  if  found  at  all.  This  wrong  view  slanderously 
charges  God’s  will,  rather  than  the  petitioner’s  life, 
with  much  of  the  failure  to  receive  answers. 

Of  course,  the  conditions  of  acceptable  prayer 
need  to  be  carefully  mastered.  All  known  sin  blocks 
prayer :  As  Bunyan  says,  the  sinning  kills  the  pray¬ 
ing,  if  the  praying  does  not  kill  the  sinning.  Re¬ 
sentment  arrests  prayer,  for  the  platform  of  prayer 
is  grace — favor  to  the  undeserving;  and  to  cherish 
an  unforgiving  spirit  is  to  abandon  the  very  attitude 
of  dependence  on  mercy.  Carnal  motives  hinder 
prayer,  which  is  essentially  the  breathing  of  spiritual 
desire,  and  which  fleshly  lusts  stifle.  Earnestness  and 
patient  waiting  are  the  tests  of  the  depth  of  such 
desire  and  the  sincerity  of  the  seeking.  Unbelief 
makes  God  a  liar  or  at  best  a  capricious  promiser, 
and  hence  we  must  have  confidence  in  His  truth 
and  faithfulness.  There  must  be  harmony  of  wills , 
between  God  and  the  suppliant,  otherwise  prayer 
would  only  promote  resistance  and  rebellion.  And 
to  ask  in  Jesus’  name  is  the  assurance  of  answer, 

273 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

since  He  becomes  the  real  suppliant  when  we  pray, 
pleading  His  merit  as  our  ground  of  acceptance. 

These  are  the  main  conditions  and  bear  any 
amount  of  study. 

So  do  the  promises.  The  Word  of  God  represents 
all  the  possibilities  of  God  as  at  the  disposal  of  true 
prayer.  Help  is  at  hand,  and  often  comes  before  the 
prayer  is  yet  complete,  because  He  hears  the  unspo¬ 
ken  sigh  and  groan.  God’s  supplies  are  inexhausti¬ 
ble;  His  ability  and  willingness  are  both  infinite; 
hence  JHis  answers  often  transcend  all  our  requests 
or  even  imaginings.  When  the  praying  suppliant 
abides  in  Christ,  as  the  branch  in  the  vine,  his  sup¬ 
plications  are  but  one  form  of  the  development  and 
expression  of  the  Life  of  Christ  in  him,  just  as  the 
buds,  blossoms  and  clusters  of  the  branch  are  ex¬ 
pressions  of  the  vine’s  vitality.  Prayer  brings  peace 
by  banishing  care,  transferring  burdens  to  the  great 
Burden  Bearer.  Special  promises  are  addressed  to 
those  who  agree — not  the  agreement  of  mutual  sym¬ 
pathy  only,  but  of  symphony  with  God,  brought  first 
into  accord  with  Him,  and  so,  with  each  other. 

The  examples  adduced  in  Scripture  serve  both  to 
illustrate  the  principles  of  prayer  and  to  encourage 
the  habit,  for  the  successful  human  intercessors  were 
all  men  “of  like  passions  as  we” — even  the  Lord 
himself  being  “compassed  about  with  infirmity,”  like 
ourselves ;  and,  because  other  believers  have  prayed 
and  travailed,  so  may  we. 


274 


The  Problem  of  Prayer. 

Certain  great  facts  about  prayer  loom  up  before 
us,  which  need  to  be  more  distinctly  seen  and  felt. 

1.  The  wealth  of  the  assurances  addressed  to 
praying  believers.  There  are  probably  thirty  thou¬ 
sand  promises  in  the  Word  of  God,  and  of  them  all 
the  larger  class  pertain  to  prayer,  more  or  less  di* 
rectly. 

2.  The  universal  terms  used — all  the  uncondition¬ 
al  phrases  are  applied  to  prayer :  “whosoever,” 
“whatsoever,”  “wheresoever,”  “whensoever,”  “all,” 
“any,”  “every” — God  means  there  shall  be  no  mis¬ 
take  about  this. 

3.  The  abundant  testimony  to  a  prayer-hearing 
God — unimpeachable  witnesses,  sufficient  in  number, 
competent  in  judgment,  trustworthy  in  character, 
varied  in  experience,  and  in  all  ages. 

4.  Yet,  shameful  neglect  of  prayer — nothing  with¬ 
in  the  whole  range  of  Christian  duty  and  privilege 
so  infrequent  and  inadequate,  so  empty,  formal  and 
heartless  when  done,  and,  with  the  average  disciple, 
so  dragged  down  from  its  divine  elevation  to  a  dis¬ 
gracefully  low  spiritual  level. 

Sixteen  words  deserve  to  be  put  before  us  in  bold 
capitals,  as  covering  the  whole  problem: 

“YE  HAVE  NOT,  BECAUSE  YE  ASK  NOT: 
YE  ASK  AND  RECEIVE  NOT, 

BECAUSE  YE  ASK  AMISS”  (James  iv:2,  3). 

Ten  thousand  gifts  and  blessings  we  fail  to  get, 
simply  because  ,we  fail  even  to  ask  for  them;  ten 

275 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


thousand  more  we  fail  to  get,  because,  when  we  do 
ask,  we  fail  to  ask  as  we  ought.  Either  we  neglect 
prayer  altogether,  or  else  in  praying,  we  neglect  to 
observe  the  conditions  within  which  alone  prayer 
can  be  acceptably  or  prevailingly  offered. 

Into  this  matter  of  asking  amiss  and  asking  aright 
it  is  our  present  purpose  to  enter  with  special  care, 
inasmuch  as  here  lie  the  very  secrets  of  failure. 

At  the  threshold  of  this  theme,  over  against  all 
this  affluence  of  invitation  and  promise,  we  meet 
certain  awful  admonitions  and  prohibitions.  In  some 
directions  there  is  a  closed  door  before  prayer.  Even 
its  boundless  possibilities  have  a  fixed  limit,  beyond 
which  it  is  vain  to  attempt  to  go.  God’s  restraints 
are  not  physical  but  moral.  He  can  do  anything 
that  lies  within  the  range  of  power ,  but  He  cannot 
deny  Himself  or  violate  moral  law.  Because  prayer 
pertains  to  the  moral  realm,  it  is  subject  to  moral 
limitations,  and  these  are  its  only  boundaries.  But 
he  who  would  pray  well,  both  believingly  and  pre¬ 
vailingly,  must  learn  how  far  to  go,  and  where  to 
halt.  It  is  of  no  use  to  knock  at  a  door  that  cannot 
open,  or  beat  our  heads  against  a  wall  of  adamant. 
We  note  some  of  these  Scripture  limitations: 

i.  Man's  Barter  is  irrevocable.  Esau  sold  his 
birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage,  and  the  birthright 
blessing  went  with  the  birthright  heritage.  Though 
Jacob  got  the  blessing  by  fraud,  behind  his  trickery 
lay  the  permission  of  the  God  of  the  birthright. 
Jacob’s  crime  of  lying  succeeded  at  his  father’s  bed- 

276 


The  Problem  of  Prayer. 

side,  but  Esau’s  crime  of  selling  had  forfeited  what 
his  brother  fraudulently  obtained.  And,  when  the 
prophetic  word  had  been  spoken  it  could  not  be  un¬ 
said.  Esau  sought  with  tears  a  change  of  mind  in 
his  father,  but  in  vain.  However  Isaac  himself 
might  regret  both  Jacob’s  deceit  and  his  own  mis¬ 
take,  he  had  spoken  in  the  name  of  God,  who  had 
permitted  the  blessing  to  go  to  the  brother  who  had, 
in  Esau’s  deliberate  bargain  and  barter,  bought  the 
right  to  the  birthright  succession  and  all  that  went 
with  it. 

There  are  many  “profane  persons,”  and  spiritual 
“fornicators,”  like  Esau,  not  a  few  of  whom  are  in 
the  church  of  God;  who  make  a  barter  of  spiritual 
privileges,  opportunities,  and  blessings — a  barter 
which  not  even  repentance  will  undo;  a  forfeiture 
which  not  even  prayer  will  restore.  Even  God  can¬ 
not  give  back  a  lost  day  or  hour.  While  life  is  before 
us,  it  may  be  used  for  God  and  humanity,  or  for 
self  and  carnality.  If  wrongly  used,  and  so  abused, 
how  can  the  crime  be  undone !  When  life  is  behind 
us,  it  is  no  longer  improvable,  but  irrevocable.  We 
may  repent  of  what  is  worse  than  waste,  but  the 
waste  remains.  This  we  believe  to  be  the  real  point 
of  our  Lord’s  question:  “What  shall  a  man  give 
in  exchange  for  his  life?”  to  buy  it  back,  when  once 
it  is  gone!  if  he  would  gladly  give  back  the  world 
for  which  he  sold  it,  both  the  world  and  the  life  are 
gone  together! 

2.  God’s  Decrees  are  irreversible .  When  Moses, 

277 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


again  and  again,  pleaded  to  be  permitted  to  go  over 
Jordan  into  the  Land  of  promise,  and  so  complete 
his  work  of  leadership,  God  finally  said  to  him, 
“Speak  no  more  to  me  of  this  matter,  for  thou  shall 
not  go  over  this  Jordan”  (Deut.  iii  125-27).  He  who 
was  one  of  God’s  mightiest  intercessors,  ranking 
with  such  as  Noah  and  Job,  Samuel  and  Daniel, 
Elijah  and  Paul,  was  told  by  the  very  Jehovah 
whom  he  knew  face  to  face  as  no  other  had  ever 
known  Him,  to  desist.  He  had  publicly  dishonored 
God  at  Meribah  by  a  second  smiting  of  the  once 
smitten  rock — which  was  the  type  of  Him  who  was 
once  for  all  smitten  for  us — and  yet  he  had  been 
expressly  told  to  speak  to  the  rock,  and  knew  that 
he  was  in  no  respect  to  depart  from  “the  pattern 
showed  h;m  on  the  mount.”  God,  for  that  offence, 
which  undoubtedly  had  a  deep  typical  bearing,  de¬ 
termined  that  he  should  not  enter  with  the  people 
into  the  land  of  their  inheritance;  and  His  decree 
could  not  be  changed  even  at  Moses’  prayer. 

3.  There  are  limits  of  fitness — a  time  for  every¬ 
thing.  Prayer  cannot  take  the  place  of  obedience. 
Only  what  is  seasonable  is  also  reasonable.  Jehovah 
said,  at  the  Red  Sea,  “Wherefore  criest  thou  unto 
Me!  Speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel  that  they 
go  forward!”  It  was  not  a  time  or  place  for  mere 
supplication — asking  was  to  give  place  to  acting. 
The  Lord  had  already  given  them  assurance  of 
their  deliverance,  and  that  He  would  fight  for  them 
and  destroy  their  foes.  It  was  not  a  time  to  breathe 

278 


The  Problem  of  Prayer. 

a  prayer  or  cry  aloud  for  help:  That  cry  had 
been  heard  and  answered ;  and  prompt,  courageous 
action  and  advance  were  now  demanded.  We  may 
prolong  our  prayers  unduly,  waiting  on  our  face 
before  God  when  He  is  commanding  us  to  be  up, 
on  our  feet,  and  going  forward. 

4.  Discipline  has  its  necessities.  Prayer  cannot 
always  avert  a  providential  blow.  David  had  sinned 
a  great  sin — and  sinned  publicly.  He  had  taken 
another  man’s  wife  and,  to  keep  her,  had  got  that 
other  man  out  of  the  way;  and  no,w  the  child, 
bom  of  that  crime,  was  dying.  David  went,  fasting 
and  praying,  before  the  Lord  to  plead  for  the  life 
of  the  child.  But  Nathan  said — “it  shall  surely 
die.”  No  prayer  could  avert  that  chastisement. 
God  would  not  set  a  premium  upon  adultery,  de¬ 
ception  and  murder.  The  fruit  of  that  abominable 
and  multiplied  sin,  must  not  abide.  It  was  doomed. 
The  penitent  sinner  still  needed  the  scourge,  and 
the  Father  could  not  spare  His  rod  because  of  the 
child’s  cries. 

5.  Judicial  penalties  also  set  limits.  Temporal 
judgments  are  sometimes  necessary  as  sanctions  of 
God’s  Law.  Especially  is  this  true  of  Nations, 
which,  as  such,  have  no  existence  beyond  this  wnrld, 
and  whose  penalties  must  come  within  the  bounds 
of  time.  There  are  times  when  a  whole  nation  has 
been  guilty  of  some  great  wrong,  and  righteous¬ 
ness  in  God  demands  retribution.,  as  Lincoln  sub¬ 
limely  said  at  Gettysburg.  Though  Job,  Noah, 

279 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


Moses,  Samuel  and  Daniel  were  together  to  appeal 
to  God,  His  mind  could  not  be  toward  His  people, 
to  save  them  from  judgment  (Jerem.  xv:i;  Ezek. 
xiv:4). 

6.  Intercession  has  its  limits.  Sometimes  the  cup 
of  human  iniquity  becomes  full,  and  overflows* 
When  that  is  the  case  no  plea  is  of  any  avail. 
There  is  nothing  left  but  a  deluge  of  water  or  a 
rain  of  fire.  Sodom  could  not  be  saved  even  by 
Abraham’s  importunity,  nor  Jerusalem  by  prophets' 
pleading,  when  even  chief  priests  and  rulers  had 
conspired  to  put  the  Son  of  God  to  death,  and  fol¬ 
lowed  His  crucifixion  by  Stephen’s  stoning.  The 
bounds  of  God’s  forbearance  were  passed.  Sin  had 
transcended  the  limits  of  even  Divine  patience. 
When  the  “three  years”  of  letting  alone,  digging 
about  and  dunging  the  barren  figtree,  had  brought 
only  new  cumbering  of  the  ground,  the  axe  was 

irrevocablv  laid  at  the  root  of  the  tree. 

* 

7.  Once  more,  there  is  a  sin  unto  death — and 
John  says,  with  awful  suggestiveness :  “I  do  not  say 
that  he  shall  pray  for  it”  (I  John  v:6). 

What  this  sin  is,  we  may  not  be  sure,  perhaps, 
but  because  there  is  such  a  sin,  it  behooves  us  to  be¬ 
ware,  for  no  prayer  can  pierce  that  death  shade. 
Alford  makes  it  an  appreciable  act ,  the  denying 
Jesus  to  be  the  Christ ,  the  Son  of  God,  which  wil¬ 
ful,  deliberate  denial  John  elsewhere  accounts  a 
sufficient  ground  for  not  wishing  a  man  “Godspeed.” 
or  receiving  him  into  the  house.  But  the  state  of 


280 


PtJfNFS  Oh  A  A/S  WSR: 


+ 

Apparent//  Unheec/eo/ 

Rest /u i  faith. 

z 

Dented  and  yet  Answered 

Submissive  fa i til. 

z 

Deiayed end  Disguised 

importunate  faith. 

/ 

immediate  and  Obvious 

Piane  of  Sight. 

4 

Acceptabh 

in  the  Power  of  the  Spirit 

*  Ashing/ 

The  Hoiy  Spirit  as  intercessor 

3 

in  bite  biame  of  Christ 

Christ  as  Mediator 

2 

in  a  ft  list  Spirit 

Cod  as  father. 

f 

in  Simpte  Desire 

Codas  Giver , 

Vain  Asking: 


4 

in  unbeitef 

Without  Expectation- 

3 

As  a  form. 

Heart  A  Hen  front  Coo. 

2 

A  shiny  Amiss 

Set  fish  Motive. 

1 

in  Sin. 

insuit  to  Holy  Coo. 

The  Problem  of  Prayer. 


apostasy  which  makes  such  act  possible  is  undoubt¬ 
edly  included.  This  sin,  whatever  it  be,  is  one 
which  may  be  detected  in  a  “ brother ” — a  professed 
disciple — which  makes  the  warning  more  terrible. 
And  no  fact  is  more  significant  than  this — that, 
when  a  disciple  has  once  radically  departed  from 
the  faith  and  practice  of  Godliness,  and  even  goes 
so  far  as  to  deny  the  Lord  that  bought  him,  and 
blaspheme  His  name,  history  may  be  safely  chal¬ 
lenged  to  produce  one  unmistakable  case  of  restora¬ 
tion  to  his  lost  faith  and  love.  If  so,  History  may 
perhaps  be  a  sufficient  expositor  in  this  case. 

On  the  chart  (IX)  are  represented  the  Planes  of 
Prayer  and  Answer.  The  lowest  group  of  four  rep¬ 
resent  vain  asking;  the  next  four  above,  acceptable 
asking;  and  the  uppermost  four,  the  various  levels 
idea  of  constant  ascent  from  the  lowest  spiritual 
state  or  experience  o  the  higher  and  more  exalted. 

Of  vain  asking,  the  first  and  lowest  level  is  that 
of  known  sin — sin  that  is  “regarded  in  the  heart” — 
that  is,  cherished  (Psalm  lxvi:i8).  In  such  case 
one  may  as  well  not  pray  at  all,  for  the  suppliant 
who  wilfully  and  habitually  sins  against  his  Sover¬ 
eign  only  adds  insult  by  such  prayer.  Hence  “the 
sacrifice  of  the  wicked  is  an  abomination  to  the 
Lord”  (Prov.  xv:8).  God  does  not  demand  sinless' 
ness  in  a  suppliant,  but  He  cannot  abide  wilful  con¬ 
tinuance  in  sin:  there  must  be  at  least  the  will  to 
obey. 


281 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


James  teaches  that  he  asks  “amiss, ”  whose  motive 
is  carnal  self-indulgence — to  consume  God’s  gifts 
upon  his  lusts;  as  when  one  asks  for  pleasure, 
money,  or  position,  simply  to  indulge  appetite,  ava¬ 
rice  and  ambition.  At  “Kibroth  Hataavah,”  “the 
graves  of  the  lusters,”  were  buried  the  thousands 
who  clamored  for  flesh,  and  it  passed  into  a  proverb 
that  God  “gave  them  their  request,  but  sent  lean¬ 
ness  into  their  soul”  (Numbers  xi,  Psalm  cvi:i5). 

Again,  mere  formal  prayer  is  vain.  This  is  draw¬ 
ing  near  with  the  mouth,  and  honoring  with  the  lips, 
while  the  heart  is  far  removed  from  God  (Isaiah 
xxix:i3).  The  pharisees,  who  paraded  their  long 
prayers  on  street  corners  that  they  might  have  glory 
of  men,  while  they  were  devouring  widows’  houses, 
only  incurred  “greater  condemnation;”  and  it  is 
useless  to  attempt  to  impose  on  God  by  a  show  of 
devotion.  He  sees  not  as  man  sees,  judging  not  by 
outward  appearance,  but  looking  on  the  heart. 

Even  on  the  higher  level,  where  there  is  no  volun¬ 
tary  continuance  in  sin,  no  carnal  motive,  and  no 
insincerity,  there  may  still  be  an  imhelief  that  for¬ 
feits  blessing.  James,  whose  epistle  contains  more 
hints  on  the  causes  of  failure  in  prayer  than  any 
other,  at  the  outset  points  out  a  lack  of  faith  as  the 
first  hindrance  (i:5'7).  “He  that  cometh  to  God 
must  believe  that  He  is,  and  is  a  rewarder  of  them 
that  diligently  seek  Him”  (Hebrews  xi:6). 

Of  all  this  vain,  ineffective  praying,  one  general 
word  may  be  said:  if  God  should  grant  all  that  men 


282 


The  Problem  of  Prayer. 

ask,  in  many  cases  it  would  be  a  curse  rather  than  a 
blessing:  it  is  often  a  mercy  that  He  withholds. 
Agrippina,  mother  of  Nero,  besought  her  gods  to 
spare  her  son,  and  set  him  on  the  throne ;  but,  to  his 
ascendency  she  owed  her  own  assassination.  When 
Hezekiah  was  told  to  set  his  house  in  order;  that 
he  should  die,  he  turned  his  face  to  the  wall  and 
begged  for  life.  He  had  as  yet  no  son  and  heirs 
and  thought  it  a  calamity  to  his  kingdom  to  leave  no 
succession.  The  Lord  granted  him  fifteen  years 
more :  but  those  years  added  nothing  to  his  glory  or 
that  of  his  kingdom.  He  incurred  divine  displeasure 
and  excited  man’s  cupidity  by  the  ostentatious  dis¬ 
play  of  his  princely  treasures  to  the  emissaries  of 
Babylon ;  and  though,  during  those  fifteen  years,  he 
begat  Manasseh,  that  son  proved  the  Ahab  of 
Judah,  the  greatest  curse  of  that  kingdom,  and  the 
main  cause  of  Judah’s  captivity.  So  far  as  we  can 
see,  it  had  been  far  better  for  both  Hezekiah  and  the 
kingdom  of  Judah,  had  he  died  when  he  had  warn¬ 
ing,  and  not  had  that  fifteen  years  of  respite. 

Even  in  acceptable  asking,  there  are  degrees  of 
prevailing  power.  The  lowest  plane  of  true  prayer 
is  that  of  genuine  spiritual  desire ,  or  yearning,  as 
when  David,  as  God’s  servant,  found  in  his  heart  to 
pray  a  prayer  unto  Him  (2  Sam.  vii:27).  But,  if, 
to  such  sincerity  of  heart,  there  be  added  the  filial 
spirit ,  the  confidence  of  a  child  in  God  as  a  Father, 
we  rise  to  a  higher  level.  Our  Lord  makes  much 
of  this,  as  an  argument  and  an  encouragement,  in 

283 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


that  great  exposition  of  prayer  in  Matthew  vi,  where 
He  reminds  us  of  God's  care  for  the  sparrows 
whom  He  feeds,  and  the  lilies,  whom  He  clothes. 
The  birds  of  the  air  cannot  appeal  to  Him  as  Father, 
and  the  flowers  of  the  field  cannot  even  consciously 
feel  their  needs  and  appeal  to  Him  as  Creator ;  how 
much  more  then  may  His  children  who  can  recog¬ 
nize  in  Him  not  only  a  Creator  but  a  Father  plead 
with  Him  in  filial  confidence.  If  jHe  cares  for  His 
dumb  creatures,  and  even  His  material  creation, 
how  much  more  His  redeemed  sons,  who  combine 
in  themselves  all  appeals  in  one. 

We  rise  still  higher,  when  we  pray  in  the  name  of 
Christ.  In  our  Lord's  new  lesson  on  prayer  which 
is  seven  times  urged  in  His  last  discourse  on  the 
eve  of  His  death  (John  xiv:i3-xiv:24),  He  teaches 
disciples  the  power  of  conscious  unity  and  identity 
with  Himself,  which  makes  us  even  bolder  than  the 
sense  of  our  sonship  and  God’s  Fatherhood.  For  it 
is  plain  that  when  we  ask  in  Christ's  name.  He  is 
the  real  petitioner.  Whenever  men  use  another's 
name  as  the  authority  for  approach  and  appeal  to  a 
fellow  man,  and  for  a  request  that  they  could  not 
urge  without  such  sanction  or  warrant,  it  is  obvious 
that  he  to  whom  the  request  is  addressed  looks  past 
him  who  presents  the  petition  to  the  party  whom  he 
sees  behind  the  request,  and  for  whose  sake  he 
grants  the  favor.  Because  our  own  name  carries  no 
weight,  we  use  another's.  So  it  is  no  irreverence 
to  say  that  whenever  we  ask  in  the  name  of  Christ, 

284 


The  Problem  of  Prayer. 

the  Father  looks  past  us,  and  sees  His  Son  as  the 
real  suppliant.  This  is  emphasized  as  a  new  lesson : 
“Hitherto  have  ye  asked  nothing  in  My  Name.”  No 
Old  Testament  saint,  nor,  up  to  that  time,  had  any 
.New  Testament  disciple,  ever  understood  this  high 
privilege,  because  the  relation  of  Christ  to  His  dis- 
cip’e  had  never  been  fully  revealed. 

If  any  level  of  prayer  can  be  higher,  it  is  when,  to 
all  these — sincere  desire,  the  filial  spirit,  and  the 
claim  of  discipleship— is  added  a  conscious  inward 
groaning  of  the  Holy  Spirit  (Romans  viii:26,  27). 
In  this  case  it  is  God,  the  Spirit,  Himself,  who  is 
pleading  in  us.  e  guides  our  desires.  He  shapes  our 
utterance,  if  indeed  the  yearnings  He  awakens 
do  not  transcend  all  language;  ,He  displaces  carnal 
by  spiritual  motives;  He  teaches  us,  in  conscious 
sonship,  to  cry  “Abba,  Father ;”  and  Himself  prac¬ 
tically  does  the  praying .  How  mighty  in  prayer 
must  the  believer  become  when  these  fourfold  con¬ 
ditions  all  meet  in  Him!  Then  is  that  verse  made 
real — the  only  one  in  which  all  three  persons  of  the 
godhead  are  linked  in  relation  to  prayer:  “Through 
Him  (the  Lord  Jesus  Christ)  we  have  access  by  one 
Spirit  unto  the  Father,f  (Ephes.  ii:i8).  We  pray 
in  the  Spirit  for  the  Spirit  prays  in  us. 

As  to  the  four  planes  of  answer ,  their  respective 
levels  are  determined  by  the  measure  of  faith  they 
demand.  The  lowest  is  where  the  answer  is  imme¬ 
diate  and  obvious;  it  comes  at  once  and  as  expected, 
like  that  of  Abraham's  steward  at  the  Well  (Gen* 

285 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


esis  xxiv:i4,  15).  This  makes  no  demand  on  faith 
or  patience.  But  sometimes  the  answer  is  delayed, 
or  disguised ,  or  both.  When  Elijah  prayed  for 
rain,  seven  times  his  servant  reported  ‘‘nothing;” 
and  Daniel  for  three  full  weeks  fasted  and  prayed, 
before  the  answering  vision  refreshed  him.  Paul 
prayed  for  guidance  in  going  to  Philippi,  but  when 
he  and  Silas  found  only  a  scourge,  a  prison  cell, 
and  the  stocks,  it  took  faith  to  read  God’s  answer  in 
such  disguise.  Delays  are  not  refusals.  Many  a 
prayer  is  registered,  and  underneath  it  the  words — 
‘‘My  time  is  not  yet  come.”  God  has  a  set  time  and 
way,  as  well  as  a  set  purpose. 

Sometimes  the  literal  prayer  is  denied.  But  true 
prayer,  though  refused  in  terms ,  is  always  granted 
in  effect.  Paul  thrice  besought  God  that  the  “stake 
in  the  flesh”  might  be  taken  away.  The  Lord  left 
it  where  it  was,  but  He  used  Paul’s  weakness  to  dis¬ 
play  the  perfection  of  His  strength,  giving  such 
compensating  grace,  that  Paul  gloried  in  his  in¬ 
firmity.  Monica  besought  God  not  to  let  Augustine 
go  to  Rome,  lest  he  should  be  ruined.  But  when 
her  son  went  to  Rome,  despite  her  pleadings,  she 
consoled  herself  with  the  reflection  that,  if  the  Lord 
docs  not  give  what  we  ask,  He  always  gives  some¬ 
thing  better.  And  so  it  was.  Augustine’s  going  to 
Rome  proved  his  rescue,  not  his  ruin.  He  met  the 
saintly  Ambrose  of  Milan,  and,  through  his  influ¬ 
ence,  he  became  not  only  a  disciple,  but  a  sort  of  new 
apostle;  he  brought  the  whole  majesty  of  his  intel- 

286 


The  Problem  of  Prayer. 

lect  to  the  defence  and  confirmation  of  the  faith; 
and  no  one  man,  since  Paul,  has  wielded  so  potent 
a  sceptre  on  church  life. 

The  late  Dr.  Moon,  of  Brighton,  while  yet  a 
young  man,  was  threatened  with  total  blindness. 
It  seemed  like  a  wreck  of  all  his  hopes  and  pros¬ 
pects,  and  be  besought  God  to  spare  his  vision.  But 
the  blindness  proved  chronic,  a  midnight  that  had 
no  dawn.  With  a  faith,  seldom  surpassed  for  sub¬ 
limity,  he  “thanked  God  for  the  talent  of  blindness  ” 
and  prayed  so  to  use  it  as  to  bring  profit  to  his  Mas¬ 
ter  !  Then  he  began  to  think  how  he  could,  invest  it, 
and  developed  that  simple  system  for  the  millions  of 
blind,  whereby  they  so  easily  learn  to  read,  that 
already  it  has  been  applied  to  about  five  hundred* 
languages  and  dialects !  God  greatly  widened  his 
sphere  of  service  by  withholding  the  sight  he  craved. 

The  loftiest  level  of  answer  is  where  there  is  abso « 
lutely  no  sign  that  Gad  hears  or  cares .  With  all  the 
repeated,  importunate  call,  there  seems  to  be  none 
that  regards  the  cry,  as  with  the  Baal  worshippers 
on  Carmel.  The  Hearer  of  Prayer  keeps  silence. 
Unbelief  would  say  that  the  Throne  of  His  Glory  is 
disgraced.  Years  pass  by,  and  life’s  morning  has 
reached  noon,  and  noon  has  sunk  to  night,  and  there 
has  been  no  sensible  relief.  When  Faith  survives 
such  a  trial,  and  still  triumphs  in  God,  it  rises  to 
the  highest  level  of  the  sublime,  resting  calmly  on 
the  changeless  ufiord  and  character  of  God.  It  asks 
no  sign,  no  voice,  no  vision ;  willing  to  wait  for  ex- 

287 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


planation,  till  the  eternal  morning  dawns  and  all  the 
shadows  flee  away ! 

I  asked  Mr.  Muller,  a  little  before  his  death, 
whether  he  had  ever  prayed  for  a  long  time  for  a 
blessing,  with  no  answer.  He  replied  with  his 
wonted  precision,  that,  for  more  than  sixty-five 
years  and  four  months,  he  had  besought  God  for 
the  conversion  of  two  men,  yet  in  their  sins.  But  he 
added:  “I  shall  meet  them  both  in  Heaven.  My 
[Heavenly  Father  would  not  lay  on  me  the  burden 
of  two  souls  for  so  many  years,  had  He  no  purposes 
of  mercy  concerning  them!"  He  died  without  the 
sight,  but  without  the  doubt ,  a  rare  example  of  a 
faith  that  could  repose  upon  the  immutable  Prom¬ 
iser,  though  more  than  three  score  years  of  ap¬ 
parently  vain  supplication  had  put  both  faith  and 
patience  to  the  test. 

Before  closing  this  discussion  of  this  great  prob¬ 
lem  of  prayer,  we  refer  again  to  the  Epistle  of 
James,  which  contains  at  least  six  or  seven  mark¬ 
ed  hints  on  what  it  is  to  ask  amiss.  In  three  places 
he  refers  to  this  practical  question  and  in  each  case 
gives  two  reasons  for  failure  (James  i:5-8,  iv:2-5, 
v:i4-i8). 

The  several  grounds  of  unprevailing  prayer  which 
he  suggests  are:  i.  Lack  of  Faith.  2.  Of  Patient 
holding  on.  3.  Of  proper  motive.  4.  Of  unworldly 
separation.  5.  Of  earnest  resolve.  6.  Of  spiritual 
elevation.  Only  careful  and  thorough  study  could 
bring  out  these  lessons  in  their  force  and  fulness; 

288 


The  Problem  of  Prayer. 

but  a  few  words  may  help  to  make  the  genera! 
instruction  clear. 

As  to  lack  of  faith  and  patinece,  the  simile  used 
is  ludicrously  striking.  The  wave,  properly,  ‘‘the 
surge  of  the  sea,  driven  with  the  wind  and  tossed.” 
There  are  two  motions  when  the  sea  is  tempestuous, 
undulation,  up  and  down;  fluctuation,  to  and  fro. 
Both  referred  to — “driven  with  the  wind/’  fluc¬ 
tuation;  “tossed/’  undulation.  The  peculiarity  of  a 
wave  is  that  it  stays  nowhere;  and  so  of  the  double- 
souled  man :  he  is  unstable  in  all  his  ways.  If  he  is 
impelled  forward  he  falls  back,  and  if  he  is  lifted 
up  he  sinks  down  again.  If  he  believes  one  moment, 
he  distrusts  the  next;  if  he  gets  a  little  ahead,  he 
cannot  hold  on  to  any  advantage.  Unstable  as  water, 
he  cannot  excel. 

The  carnal  and  worldly  spirit  cannot  triumph  in 
prayer,  for  carnality  prompts  to  ask  for  gratifica¬ 
tion’s  sake,  and  would  make  prayer  only  another 
avenue  of  selfishness.  Worldliness  allies  the  soul 
with  the  world — the  enemy  of  God.  All  worldly 
alliance  is  spiritual  adultery.  And  how  can  disciples 
who  are  coquetting  with  the  very  world  that  seeks 
to  supplant  the  Divine  Bridegroom  in  their  affection 
and  allegiance,  go  with  acceptance  to  the  very  Lord 
whom  these  compromises  dishonor  to  ask  a  favor! 

In  the  last  chapter  of  James,  Elijah  is  held  up  as 
an  example  of  one  who  “in  prayer,  prayed.”  We 
are  reminded  of  that  scene  on  Carmel  when  he  who 
had  commanded  the  Fire  from  Heaven,  now  com- 

289 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


manded  also  the  flood.  The  details  are  significant 
(i  Kings  xviii  142-46).  The  prophet  “cast  himself 
down  upon  the  earth,  and  put  his  face  between  his 
knees ;”  underneath  his  mantle,  he  was  able  to  see 
nothing,  and  he  wanted  to  be  undisturbed  in  com¬ 
munion  with  God.  It  is  a  Parable  of  Faith  and 
Sight — Faith  absorbed  in  supplication :  Sight  taking 
observation  and  reporting  “nothing.”  Unbelief,  at 
such  report,  would  have  said,  “just  as  I  expected  !’* 
and  ceased  praying.  But  faith  keeps  on,  until  the 
hand  raised  in  supplication  leaves  its  shadow  on  the 
sky,  in  the  little  cloud — hand-shaped — and  then 
knows  that  the  answer  is  already  coming  syrift  and 
sure. 

One  of  the  greatest  hindrances  to  Effectual 
Prayer  is  the  practical  listlessness  and  indifference 
with  which  we  approach  this  Holiest  of  all  and 
which  makes  such  holding  on  to  God  impossible. 
“Prayer,”  says  Dr.  A.  F.  Schauffler,  “is  either  a 
prodigious  force  or  a  disgraceful  farce.  If  a  farce, 
you  may  pray  much  and  get  little;  if  a  force ,  you 
may  pray  little  and  get  much.”  If,  said  a  plain, 
blunt  farmer,  any  son  of  mine  should  ask  a  favor 
as  tamely  as  that  minister  spoke  to  his  “Father  in 
Heaven,”  I  should  give  him  a  stidk. 

It  is  significant  that,  in  this  acted  parable  of  pre¬ 
vailing  prayer,  Elijah  kept  his  high  level  to  the  end. 
How  little  we  understand  that  the  prayer  of  faith 
is  answered  on  the  plane  of  faith.  Having  got  a 
vision  of  God,  and  been  emboldened  to  ask  in  faith, 


290 


The  Problem  of  Prayer, 

we  must  not  go  down  to  the  low  levels  of  sight  for 
the  answer:  it  will  not  follow  us  down,  nor  would 
we  be  able  to  recognize  it  there  if  it  did.  That 
mountain  top  was  the  place  to  wait  for  the  answer 
It  commanded  the  horizon  and  the  atmosphere  there 
was  clear.  There  are  many  valleys  where  but  little 
of  the  sky  is  visible  and  what  is  may  often  be  seen 
only  through  a  murky  atmosphere.  Keep  your  High 
level  if  you  would  receive  or  recognize  God’s  an¬ 
swer. 

It  is  of  great  importance  that,  having  asked  of 
God  in  faith,  this  attitude  of  faith  should  be  care¬ 
fully  maintained  until  the  Divine  answer  is  received. 

Jehovah  appeared  to  Abram  in  a  vision  and  prom¬ 
ised  him  a  seed,  when  it  was  a  natural  impossibility ; 
but  the  “father  of  the  faithful”  rose  to  the  occasion. 
With  sublime  trust  in  God,  he  “considered  neither 
his  own  body  now  dead,  nor  the  deadness  of  Sarah’s 
womb,  but  against  hope  believed  in  hope,  being  fully 
persuaded  that  what  God  had  promised  ,He  was  able 
to  perform”  (Rom.  iv:  17-21).  Yet,  while  this  act 
of  faith  is  recorded  (Gen.  xv:6),  as  an  example  for 
all  time,  in  the  very  next  chapter  we  read  how 
Abram  dropped  to  the  lowest  level  of  unbelief ;  and 
he  who  had  sublimely  hearkened  to  Jehovah’s  voice, 
now  hearkens  unto  the  voice  of  Sarai  his  wife  and 
actually  resorts  to  carnal  means  to  bring  about  the 
result.  Seeing  that  his  wife  continued  barren  he 
took  her  Egyptian  handmaid,  Hagar,  as  a  concubine, 
that  by  her  he  might  have  seed.  He  succeeded,  but 

291 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


Ishmael  brought  a  curse,  which  still  continues ;  for 
to  this  day  his  descendants  continue  the  implacable 
foes  of  the  Faith  and  covenant ! 

We  have  a  similar  instance  in  David .  In  a  crisis  of 
his  kingdom,  when  Absalom  led  a  formidable  revolt, 
and  Ahithopel,  whose  sagacity  was  so  proverbial 
that  his  counsel  was  compared  to  the  Oracle  of  God 
itself  (2  Sam.  xvi:23),  had  joined  the  conspiracy, 
the  king  said,  “O  Lord,  turn  the  counsel  of  Ahithopel 
into  foolishness !”  It  was  sublime  to  turn  to  the  all¬ 
wise,  and  ask  Him  to  defeat  the  conspirator  by 
making  him  advise  just  what  was  most  unwise. 

How  uplifting  the  thought  that  omniscient  wis¬ 
dom  was  more  than  a  match  for  the  subtlest  human 
conspiracy  and  diplomacy!  But  no  sooner  had  the 
king  thus  committed  the  matter  to  God,  than,  going 
fiuther  up  Olivet,  the  mount  where  it  is  specially 
stated  that  “he  worshipped  God/’  he  met  Hushai, 
the  Archite,  and  bade  him  play  the  hypocrite — pre¬ 
tend  that  he  was  also  a  traitor,  professing  loyalty  to 
Absalom ;  that,  as  David  said,  “thou  mayest  for  me 
defeat  the  counsel  of  Ahithopel”  (2  Sam.  xv:30- 
34).  Blessed  are  the  praying  souls,  who,  having  laid 
their  burdens  on  God,  leave  them  in  His  hands,  and 
do  not  compromise  the  act  of  faith  by  the  timidity 
of  unbelief  that  cannot  hold  on  to  God  and  trust 
Him  to  keep  what  has  been  committed  to  Him* 
Power  in  prayer,  though  not  a  condition  of  sal¬ 
vation,  is  a  victory  of  Faith. 

And  this  is  the  confidence  that  we  have  in  Him, 

292 


The  Problem  of  Prayer. 

that,  if  we  ask  anything  according  to  His  will,  He 
heareth  us : 

And  if  we  know  that  He  hear  us,  whatsoever  we 
ask,  we  know  that  we  have  the  petitions  that  we 
desired  of  Him  (i  John  v:i4,  15). 

In  London,  an  enterprising  newspaper  firm  had 
a  direct  telegraph  line  to  Edinburgh  to  secure  the 
latest  news  from  the  Scottish  capital  for  every  morn¬ 
ing's  issue.  Two  clerks,  at  the  top  of  the  building, 
had  charge  of  the  Edinburgh  wire,  one  of  whom 
also  collected  the  local  news.  One  night  after  going 
his  round  of  the  city  he  found  he  had  forgotten  his 
night-key.  If  he  did  not  get  in,  the  news  would  not 
get  into  the  paper.  He  thumped,  hammered,  and 
kicked,  but  all  to  no  purpose — the  man  up  in  the 
fifth  story  could  not  hear.  At  last  it  occurred  to 
him  to  wire  to  Edinburgh  and  get  them  to  call  up 
the  man  at  the  top  floor;  and  presently  his  fellow 
clerk  came  down  and  let  him  in.  This  illustrates 
the  fact  that  often  our  best  way  to  reach  men  is  by 
the  prayer  that  goes  by  way  of  the  throne ! 

Dr.  Adoniram  Judson,  while  laboring  as  a  mis¬ 
sionary  to  the  heathen,  felt  a  strong  desire  to  do 
something  for  the  salvation  of  the  Jews.  But  his 
desire  was  not  apparently  gratified,  and,  even  to  the 
closing  fortnight  of  his  life,  in  his  last  sickness,  all 
his  prayer  in  their  behalf  seemed  a  failure.  Then 
at  last  came  a  gleam  of  light  that  thrilled  his  heart 
with  grateful  joy. 

Mrs.  Judson  was  sitting  by  his  side  while  he  was 


293 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


in  a  state  of  great  weakness.  From  a  newspaper  in 
her  hand,  she  read  to  her  husband  a  letter  from 
Constantinople,  which  filled  him  with  wonder.  At 
a  meeting  of  missionaries  at  Constantinople,  it  was 
stated  that  a  little  book,  published  in  Germany,  and 
giving  an  account  of  Dr.  Judson’s  life  and  labors, 
had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  some  Jews,  and  had 
been  the  means  of  their  conversion;  that  one  of 
them  had  translated  it  for  others  who  lived  on  the 
borders  of  the  Euxine,  and  that  a  messenger  had 
arrived  in  Constantinople  asking  for  a  teacher  to  be 
sent  them  to  show  them  the  way  of  life. 

When  Dr.  Judson  heard  this  his  eyes  filled  with 
tears,  there  was  a  look  of  almost  unearthly  solem¬ 
nity,  and  clinging  to  his  wife's  hand,  as  if  to  assure 
himself  that  he  was  not  dreaming,  he  said : 

“This  frightens  me.  I  do  not  know  what  to  make 
of  it.  I  have  never  been  deeply  interested  in  any 
object,  and  prayed  sincerely  and  earnestly  for  any¬ 
thing,  but,  at  some  time — no  matter  how  distant  the 
day — somehow,  in  some  shape,  probably  the  last  I 
should  have  devised,  it  came !” 

What  a  testimony!  It  fell  from  the  lips  of  the 
dying  Judson,  as  a  legacy  to  coming  generations. 
The  desire  of  the  righteous  shall  be  granted.  Pray 
and  wait.  The  answer  to  all  true  prayer  will  come, 
and  supplication,  by  way  of  the  Throne,  will  reach 
souls  chat  you  never  personally  reach  by  direct  con¬ 
tact. 

Let  us  not  forget — what  has  been  already  referred 

294 


The  Problem  of  Prayer. 

to — the  great  value  of  united  prayer ,  when  it  is  the 
agreement  of  those  who  have  first  learned  the  art  of 
prayer  by  meeting  God  in  secret  (Matt.  xviii:i9). 
“If  two  of  you  shall  symphonize  on  earth  as  touch¬ 
ing  anything  that  they  shall  ask  it  shall  be  done  for 
them  of  my  Father  whch  is  in  Heaven.”  The  word, 
symphonize,  is  a  musical  term ;  referring  to  the  har¬ 
mony  of  notes  in  a  chord,  which  is  possible  only 
when  each  accords  with  the  whole  instrument.  One 
note,  out  of  tune,  will  turn  accord  into  discord.  So 
the  power  of  joint  supplication  depends  not  on  the 
numbers  gathered,  but  on  the  measure  of  real  agree¬ 
ment  of  each  with  the  mind  and  will  of  God.  One 
out  of  accord  ;with  Him,  hinders  perfect  harmony 
with  the  rest;  hence  the  smallest  number  that  can 
agree  is  specified,  because  there  is  more  power  when 
two  pray,  provided  they  truly  agree,  than  when  a 
larger  number  apparently  unite,  but  such  agreement 
is  lacking.  Numbers  are  of  no  importance,  but  per¬ 
fect  harmony  is. 

We  may  get  a  hint  of  why  prayers  often  fail, 
from  the  postal  system  and  the  dead  letter  office. 
Letters  reach  that  big  “waste  paper  basket”  when 
they  lack  an  address,  or  any  legible  and  intelligible 
directions;  when  they  lack  postage,  or  when  they 
contain  unlawful  matter.  And  prayers  go  to  the 
dead  prayer  office  for  reasons  not  altogether  dissimi¬ 
lar.  Some  of  them  are  hopelessly  indefinite ;  others 
lack  the  authority  of  a  divine  promise  or  other  es- 

295 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


sentials  of  acceptable  prayer;  others  are  from  mo¬ 
tives  or  for  ends  that  God  cannot  approve. 

We  may  get  hints  of  how  prayer  may  prevail 
from  that  common  channel  of  communication,  the 
telephone.  Those  who  first  use  it  find  themselves 
awkward,  until  they  learn  to  obey  the  rules  which 
are  often  hung  up  beside  a  public  instrument,  such 
as  “go  in  and  shut  the  door;”  “call  the  central;” 
“speak  close  to  the  mouthpiece;”  “put  the  receiver 
to  the  ear;”  “hold  the  wire,”  etc.  Prayer  to  God 
is  singularly  subject  to  similar  laws.  You  need  to 
get  alone  with  God,  and  shut  yourself  in ;  to  get  con¬ 
tact  with  Him  and  through  Him,  with  others  whom 
you  would  reach ;  to  get  close  to  Him  so  as  to  speak 
in  His  ear  and  hear  Him  speak  in  your  own ;  and  to 
keep  in  contact. 

Of  all  illustrations  which  the  natural  universe 
furnishes  of  the  fact  of  supernatural  contact  and 
communion,  and  its  inexplicable  mystery,  none 
equals,  certainly  none  surpasses,  wireless  telegraphy. 

In  May,  1902,  on  board  the  Campania,  and  by  the 
courtesy  of  Captain  Watt,  I  first  saw  wireless  tel¬ 
egraphy  in  operation,  being  present  when  the  mes¬ 
sage  was  sent  to  the  shore,  hundreds  of  miles  away 
and  the  answer  was  received  and  read.  It  was  then 
explained  that,  in  order  to  get  a  perfect  circuit,  the 
transmitter  and  receiver  must  be  in  tune,  each  with 
the  other — the  transmitter  in  vain  setting  in  rapid 
movement  the  mysterious  waves  of  ether,  unless  the 
receiver  was  so  adjusted  as  to  respond  to  these 

296 


The  Problem  of  Prayer. 


vibrations.  And  I  then  had  a  vivid  illustration  of 
the  fact  that  no  amount  of  proof  can  either  convince 
or,  in  fact,  reach  and  touch  a  soul,  not  adjusted  to 
God’s  will  and  in  harmony  with  His  being. 

Electricity  depends  for  transmission  upon  conduc¬ 
tors;  a  non-conductor  stops  the  circuit  and  stays  the 
mysterious  current.  The  insulating  stool  is  necessary 
if  you  are  to  be  charged  with  electricity — the  mo¬ 
ment  you  touch  the  earth  the  current  passes  from 
you  into  the  earth.  At  Northfield  Auditorium  the 
reports  to  the  N.  Y.  Tribune  were  arrested  by  a 
wire  that  at  one  point  failed  of  insulation,  touching 
the  ground.  Answers  to  prayer  belong  to  a  lofty 
and  unworldly  plane.  Contact  with  God  is  too 
precious  to  be  sold  in  the  world’s  market  at  so  many 
pence  per  pound.  It  belongs  to  those  valuable  com¬ 
modities  which  are  offered  only  to  the  highest  bid¬ 
der,  the  man  who  is  willing  for  their  sake  to  sacri¬ 
fice  all  else  that  is  hostile  to  God. 

But  whenever  such  spiritual  conditions  are  found, 
God,  the  Hearer  of  Prayer,  finds  us ;  and  actual  ex¬ 
perience  proves,  beyond  doubt,  three  grand  facts : 

First,  that  prayer  is  the  most  effectual  way,  both 
to  flood  the  Word  of  God  with  light,  and  to  put 
Scripture  teaching  to  the  test  of  experiment. 

Second,  that  prayer  is  the  most  effectual  way, 
both  to  cultivate  personal  acquaintance  with  God, 
and  a  holy  walk  with  Him. 

Third,  that  prayer  is  the  most  effectual  way  to 

297 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


secure  deliverance  from  all  the  foes  of  spiritual  life, 
and  achieve  the  highest  spiritual  successes. 

Argument,  in  such  a  realm,  is  like  a  bird  without 
wings :  it  can  walk  on  the  earth,  but  it  cannot  soar 
toward  heaven.  It  is  only  Experiment  that,  as  on 
eagle’s  pinions,  leaves  earth  behind  and  below,  in  an 
upward  flight,  that  mounts  beyond  the  level  of  mist 
and  cloud,  to  the  regions  of  sunshine;  and,  instead 
of  being  stayed  by  the  storm,  actually  outrides  it  in 
triumph ! 


298 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Fellowship  With  God. 

* 

Again  we  lay  a  biblical  basis  for  our  study: 

“Can  two  walk  together,  except  they  be  agreed?” 
(Amos  iii:3-) 

“Be  ye  reconciled  to  God”  (2  Corinth.  v:2o). 

“If  a  man  love  me,  he  will  keep  my  words;  and 
my  Father  will  love  him,  and  we  will  come  unto 
him,  and  make  our  abode  with  him”  (John  xiv:23). 

“That  which  we  have  seen  and  heard  declare  we 
unto  you,  that  ye  also  may  have  fellowship  with  us : 
and  truly  our  fellowship  is  with  the  Father,  and 
with  His  Son  Jesus  Christ.  And  these  things  write 
we  unto  you,  that  your  joy  may  be  full”  (1  John 
i:3.  4)- 

“Therefore  as  the  church  is  subject  unto  Christ, 
so  let  the  wives  be  to  their  own  husbands  in  every 
thing.  Husbands,  love  your  wives,  even  as  Christ 
also  loved  the  church,  and  gave  himself  for  it 
*  *  *  This  is  a  great  mystery :  but  I  speak  con¬ 

cerning  Christ  and  the  church”  (Ephes.  v:24-32). 

“Be  ye  holy,  for  I  am  holy”  (1  Peter  i :  16. ) 

These  passages  of  Scripture  teach :  that  the  basis 
of  all  fellowship  is  mutual  agreement,  and  that 
our  starting  point  with  God  is  reconciliation;  that 

299 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


love,  leading  to  voluntary  obedience,  secures  the 
indwelling  of  God,  developing  and  manifesting  that 
fellowship;  that,  in  this  highest  fellowship  with 
God  is  found  the  source  and  secret  of  all  true  fel¬ 
lowship  among  disciples;  that  the  climax  of  privi¬ 
lege  is  found  in  the  marital  bond  between  the  church 
and  the  heavenly  Bridegroom ;  and  that  holiness  af¬ 
fords  the  only  hope  of  perfect  harmony  with  a  hely 
God,  whose  holiness  is  also  the  supreme  incentive* 
and  argument  for  sainthood. 

Having  seen  that  Faith  is  the  starting  point  in 
the  believer’s  life,  and  prayer,  its  mightiest  force* 
we  are  now  to  consider  how  that  life  finds  its  su¬ 
preme  privilege  and  reward  in  Fellowship  with 
God. 

To  understand  this  Fellowship  we  must  first  have 
right  conceptions  of  that  which  makes  it  impossible, 
namely,  Sin.  This  constitutes,  at  once,  the  damn- 
ing  guilt  and  desperate  ruin  of  sin;  and  conse¬ 
quently  it  is  the  supreme  triumph  and  glory  of  sal¬ 
vation  from  sin  that  it  is  a  restoration  of  fellow¬ 
ship  and  makes  it  not  only  possible  and  real,  but 
intimate  and  indissoluble. 

The  most  insurmountable  obstacle  to  the  suc¬ 
cessful  preaching  of  the  Gospel  is  the  low  concep¬ 
tion,  generally  prevalent,  both  of  sin  itself  and  of 
the  ruin  it  has  brought  to  the  race.  Sin  is  not  only 
transgression  of  law,  but  separation  from  God ;  and 
grace  seeks  to  expiate  guilt  and  change  separation 
for  union,  and  alienation  for  reconciliation. 


300 


Fellowship  with  God, 


Thoroughly  to  understand  sin  and  its  disaster  we 
should  examine  more  thoroughly  its  natural  conse¬ 
quences  as  well  as  its  judicial  penalties ,  for  there  is 
a  natural  aspect  to  all  spiritual  truth,  which  needs 
to  be  seen  for  a  complete  and  correct  view.  The 
common  conception  of  Hell,  for  instance,  especially 
a  century  ago,  was  that  it  is  a  sort  of  prison — a 
universal  Newgate,  or  Saghalien,  for  the  confine¬ 
ment  and  punishment  of  culprits  and  criminals, 
with  chambers  of  horrors  and  instruments  of  tor¬ 
ture,  which  all  symbolism  has  been  taxed  to  ex¬ 
press. 

But  few  have  ever  thought  of  that  other  Hell 
that  is  within — that  is  inseparable  from  sin  and  the 
sinner,  and  which  even  God  Himself  could  not  abol¬ 
ish,  unless  by  the  abolition  of  sin !  a  Hell,  built  out 
of  the  materials  which  every  human  being  has  in 
his  own  nature,  and  whose  fires  are  fed  with  the 
fuel  he  supplies!  Hell,  in  the  larger  sense,  is  not 
of  God’s  building — not  the  result  of  any  arbitrary 
arrangement  or  decree  on  His  part ;  but  the  natural, 
necessary,  inevitable  outcome  of  alienation  on  man’s 
part.  If  God  had  provided  no  Hell  for  incorrigible 
sinners,  sin  would  build  one  and  crowd  it,  and  rea¬ 
son  and  conscience,  imagination  and  memory  would 
fuel  and  fan  its  fires. 

In  the  Apocalypse,  the  City  of  God  which  de¬ 
scends  out  of  Heaven,  has  twelve  gates  which  are 
never  shut:  yet  “nothing  entereth  that  defileth,  nei¬ 
ther  worketh  abomination  or  maketh  a  lie.”  What 

301 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


prevents  the  impure,  idolatrous,  false,  from  going 
in  through  open  gates?  There  is  an  invisible,  im¬ 
passable  barrier — found  in  conscious  repugnance  to 
a  holy  God  and  a  holy  habitation — something  with¬ 
in  the  sinner  that  says  to  God,  “Depart  from  us! 
for  we  desire  not  the  knowledge  of  Thy  ways!” 
There  may  be  as  many  gates  to  Hell  as  to  Heaven, 
and  always  open ;  and  no  external  hindrance  to  pre¬ 
vent  the  inhabitants  of  either  exchanging  abodes: 
but  God’s  metropolis  and  Satan’s  necropolis  will 
always  hold  their  own  because  they  are  their  own! 
That  which  keeps  saints  from  going  out  and  sinners 
from  going  in  the  Bridal  City  is  not  shut  gates, 
but  a  state  of  character — a  restraint  within,  not 
without.  Saints  do  not  want  to  go  out  nor  is  it  far 
wrong  to  say  that  no  inhabitant  of  Hell  would  wish 
to  enter  Heaven  if  he  could!  its  holy  atmosphere 
would  be  stifling  to  a  disobedient  spirit.  A  mis¬ 
guided  and  sensational  evangelist,  standing  by  the 
pulpit  balustrade,  shouted,  “If  I  were  now  stand¬ 
ing  on  Hell’s  battlements,  preaching  this  Gospel, 
what  a  jubilee  there  would  be  in  Hell!”  but  he  for¬ 
got  that  those  who  rebel  against  Law,  rebel  also 
against  Love!  and  that  the  fallen  demons  and  lost 
souls  in  Hell  would  accept  no  salvation  which  de¬ 
mands  abandonment  of  rebellious  self-will.  Churches 
open  their  doors  and  ring  their  bells,  but  remain 
half  empty;  for,  though  vice  and  crime  and  misery 
throng  the  streets,  there  is  something  more  conge¬ 
nial  in  the  companionship  of  sinners  than  of  saints. 


Fellowship  with  God. 


So,  without  a  change  of  nature,  no  lost  soul  could 
enter  “the  general  assembly  and  church  of  the  first 
born,”  or  would  if  he  could. 

Milton  sagaciously  puts  these  words  into  the 
mouth  of  Satan: 

“Ah,  me  miserable,  which  way  shall  I  fly 
Infinite  wrath,  and  infinite  despair! 

Which  way  I  fly  is  Hell!  Myself  am  Hell!” 

Milton’s  words  do  not  imply  that  the  self  retri¬ 
butive  power  of  sin  exhausts  the  subject — neither 
does  the  judicial  aspect  of  retribution.  Both  are 
needed,  as  the  two  sides  of  the  same  complex 
truths.  But  when  “Judas  by  transgression  fell,  that 
he  might  go  to  his  own  place”  (Acts  K25),  he 
obeyed  the  law  of  spiritual  gravitation  and  affinity; 
and  it  is  awfully  true  that  every  man  has  his  own 
place  and  makes  his  own  place ;  and,  though  he  may 
not  always  find  it  in  this  world,  he  is  sure  to  find 
it  in  the  next,  and  will  feel  it  to  be  his  own  place 
when  he  gets  there. 

Such  a  view  helps  us  to  appreciate  what  a  great 
fall  from  God  it  was  when  man  first  sinned,  and 
what  a  wreck  of  self — so  that  fellowship  with  God, 
and  even  the  desire  for  it  are  gone.  No  more  true 
is  it  that  God’s  holy  nature  shrinks  from  contact 
with  sin,  and  sinners  as  such,  than  that  a  disobedi¬ 
ent,  unregenerate  soul  repels  God.  The  need  for  a 
new  nature  is  found  in  the  necessity  of  a  fitness  for 
companionship  with  a  holy  God  and  holy  beings — 

303 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

a  capacity  to  breathe  heaven’s  air  and  enjoy  hea¬ 
ven’s  bliss. 

The  basis  of  fellowship  with  God  is  affinity  for 
God — capacity  for  heavenly  employments  and  en¬ 
joyments — for  association  with  heaven’s  society. 
Eternal  life  is  inseparable  from  eternal  sinlessness; 
and  eternal  death  there  could  not  be  without  eter¬ 
nal  sin.  Even  in  this  world  human  beings  often 
pass  the  limits  of  a  radical  change  of  character: 
they  reach  a  point  where,  consciously  or  uncon¬ 
sciously,  they  become  fixed  in  evil  courses,  holden 
with  the  cords  of  their  own  sins.  Why  should  we 
stumble  at  the  teaching  of  the  Word  of  God  that, 
beyond  this  life,  there  are  changeless  moral  condi¬ 
tions?  Character  essentially  makes  condition:  and, 
if  a  man  passes  the  bound  between  the  two  worlds, 
with  a  character  that  has  lost  plasticity  and  settled 
into  final  hardness  and  impenitence,  what  is  there, 
beyond,  that  should  effect  radical  change? 

This  side  of  the  truth  we  emphasize,  not  because 
it  is  attractive,  but  because  it  is  true;  and,  if  the 
marvel  of  sin  is  the  ruin  it  works,  the  miracle  of 
grace  is  not  so  much  that  it  brings  sinners  into 
heaven  as  that  it  makes  sinners  into  saints.  It 
would  be  a  wonder  if  a  fish  could  be  removed  from 
water  into  air,  with  gills  changed  to  lungs,  scales 
to  feathers,  and  fins  to  wings,  so  as  to  be  as  well 
fitted  for  flying  in  the  atmosphere  as  for  gliding  in 
the  stream.  But  even  this  cannot  adequately  repre¬ 
sent  what  it  is  for  a  human  being  to  be  so  born  again 

304 


Fellowship  with  God. 


from  above  as  to  be  actually  lifted  into  an  entirely 
new  spiritual  element,  henceforth  to  live  and  move 
and  have  his  being  in  God;  to  find  that  new  ele¬ 
ment  necessary  to  his  vitality,  activity  and  felicity! 

All  fellowship  with  God,  therefore,  begins  with 
Reconciliation,  advances  by  daily  and  hourly  obedi¬ 
ence  to  His  will,  and  reaches  its  perfection  in  con¬ 
scious  union  and  communion  with  Him  in  glory. 
Hence  a  favorite  biblical  figure  to  represent  it  is 
that  of  a  path,  with  its  gate  of  entrance,  its  com¬ 
mon  route  and  direction,  and  its  final  terminus  or 
goal. 

“Can  two  walk  together  except  they  be  agreed?” 
Agreement  with  God  there  must  be  if  He  and  we 
are  to  walk  together;  and  the  agreement  must 
reach  to  at  least  three  matters :  from  what  point  we 
are  to  start ;  by  what  common  path  we  are  to  travel, 
and  at  what  point  the  journey  is  to  end.  As  to  all 
these  particulars  the  Word  of  God  leaves  no  room 
for  doubt.  The  Cross  is  the  starting  point ,  where 
alone  He  will  meet  any  penitent  sinner.  Reconcilia¬ 
tion  is  definitely  declared  to  be  “by  the  death  of 
His  Son,”  and  specifically,  “by  the  blood  of  the 
Cross.” 

There  is  danger  in  the  current  misconception 
that  God  and  the  sinner  were  mutually  alienated, 
until  Christ  died,  and  that  then  God  was  reconciled, 
and  now  pleads  with  the  sinner  to  turn  toward 
Him.  In  the  purpose  of  God,  Christ  was  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world  the  slain  Lamb  of  Atone- 

305 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


ment;  and  the  efficacy  of  the  atoning  blood  was  as 
old  as  the  transgression  that  needed  it.  Expiation 
was  needful  in  order  to  make  possible  for  God  con¬ 
sistently  to  accept  reconciled  relations  to  the  sinner ; 
we  must  not,  therefore,  make  the  worse  mistake  of 
minimizing  the  guilt  of  sin  by  making  a  Holy  God 
tolerant  of  it,  or  lax  in  judgment.  But  there  is 
a  sense  in  which  His  attitude  has  always  been  that 
of  Reconciliation.  The  atonement  was  the  common 
act  of  the  whole  godhead,  though  each  of  the  Trin¬ 
ity  has  toward  it  a  specific  official  relation.  So  far 
as  the  sinner  is  concerned,  in  this  dispensation  of 
grace,  God  never  was  alienated :  hence,  the  sinner 
has  nothing  to  do  to  reconcile  Him ;  all  he  needs  is 
himself  to  be  reconciled  to  God.  Practically  all 
the  alienation  is  his,  and  therefore  all  the  reconcilia¬ 
tion  must  be.  Hence,  in  the  great  central  passage 
on  this  subject,  it  is  not  even  said  that  God  is  recon¬ 
ciled,  but,  as  though  no  change  were  needful  in 
Him ,  “God,  in  Christ,  was  reconciling  the  world  unto 
Himself” 

All  things  are  of  God,  who  hath  reconciled  us  to 
Himself  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  hath  given  to  us  the 
ministry  of  reconciliation ; 

To  wit,  that  God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the 
world  unto  himself,  not  imputing  their  trespasses 
unto  them;  and  hath  committed  unto  us  the  word 
of  reconciliation. 

Now  then  we  are  ambassadors  for  Christ,  as 

306 


Fellowship  with  God. 


though  God  did  beseech  you  by  us :  we  pray  you 
in  Christ’s  stead,  be  ye  reconciled  to  God. 

For  he  hath  made  him  to  be  sin  for  us,  who 
knew  no  sin ;  that  we  might  be  made  the  righteous¬ 
ness  of  God  in  Him. 

We  then,  as  workers  together  with  Him,  be¬ 
seech  you  also  that  ye  receive  not  the  grace  of  God 
in  vain”  (2  Cor.  v:i8;  vi:i). 

Throughout  this  passage,  not  a  word  is  found 
about  any  change  of  attitude  as  being  necessary  in 
God.  Man  is  not  coming  to  God,  to  placate  an  of¬ 
fended  Deity.  God’s  attitude  is  gracious,  forgiving 
and  even  beseeching.  But  what  strong  emphasis 
upon  the  sinner’s  being  reconciled  to  Him,  and  not 
receiving  the  grace  of  God  in  vain !  As  the  prodi¬ 
gal  found,  on  his  return  to  his  father,  that  his  fath¬ 
er’s  face  was  toward  him,  and  his  arms  stretched 
out;  so  the  moment  we  turn  toward  God  we  find 
Him  already  facing  us  and  with  a  smile,  not  a 
frown. 

The  starting  point,  then,  is  the  Cross.  There 
our  reconciliation  with  God  begins,  and  with  it  our 
walk  with  Him. 

The  earliest  object  lesson  given  to  man,  on  any 
elaborate  scale,  was  intended  to  teach  this  great 
truth:  it  was  the  whole  Passover  celebration  in 
Exodus  xii.  Here,  for  the  first  time,  the  blood  is 
made  conspicuous  in  connection  with  salvation.  The 
Ark,  devised  by  God,  built  by  man,  suggests  salva¬ 
tion  from  judgment,  but  there  is  no  suggestion  of 

307 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


atoning  blood.  But  here  the  blood  is  everything. 
The  Lamb  is  slain  that  his  blood  may  be  sprinkled 
with  the  hyssop  on  the  right  and  left  and  upper  door 
posts,  so  that  he  who  passes  the  threshold  must  be 
surrounded  by  blood.  And,  when  Jehovah,  with 
His  Destroyer,  passed  through  the  land  in  judg¬ 
ment,  He  said,  “When  I  see  the  blood,  I  will  pass 
over  you,”  and  “not  suffer  the  Destroyer  to  come 
in  unto  your  houses  to  smite  you.”  This  passing 
over  is  more  than  passing  through  the  land,  or  pass¬ 
ing  by  the  bloodstained  house.  It  implies  passing 
over  into  the  house .  All  Israel's  passings  over  were 
into  something  beyond.  They  passed  over  the  Red 
Sea  into  the  desert,  and  over  the  Jordan  into  Ca¬ 
naan.  So  God  passed  over  the  door ,  into  the 
house ;  and,  being  in,  would  not  suffer  the  Destroyer 
to  enter.  This  explains  many  other  things,  such  as 
His  claim  on  the  first  born,  as  the  special  property 
of  the  new  Head  of  the  redeemed  house;  and  the 
Psalmist’s  words,  “I  am  a  stranger  and  a  sojourner, 
with  Thee ,  as  all  my  fathers  were”  (Psalm 
xxxix:i2).  It  is  a  beautiful  conception:  Jehovah, 
seeing  the  blood,  and  Himself  passing  over  the 
threshold,  to  take  the  Headship  of  the  house,  to  be¬ 
come  possessor,  controller.  Of  course,  where  He 
was,  the  Destroyer  could  not  come.  And  He  be¬ 
came  a  fellow  Pilgrim  with  His  people,  marching 
at  their  front  in  the  Pillar  of  His  presence;  and 
never  had  a  settled  habitation  for  Himself  till  His 
people  settled  down  in  the  land  of  Promise.  This 

308 


Fellowship  with  God. 


gives  new  meaning  to  His  message  to  David,  when 
he  proposed  to  build  Him  a  house. 

“Go  and  tell  my  servant  David,  Thus  saith  the 
Lord,  Shalt  thou  build  me  an  house  for  me  to 
dwell  in? 

“Whereas  I  have  not  dwelt  in  any  house  since 
the  time  that  I  brought  up  the  children  of  Israel 
out  of  Egypt,  even  to  this  day,  but  have  walked  in 
a  tent  and  in  a  tabernacle. 

“In  all  the  places  wherein  I  have  walked  with  all 
the  children  of  Israel  spake  I  a  word  with  any  of 
the  tribes  of  Israel,  whom  I  commanded  to  feed  my 
people  Israel,  saying,  Why  build  ye  not  me  an  house 
of  cedar?”  (2  Sam.  vii:5~7). 

This  thought  that,  so  far  as  God  is  concerned, 
Reconciliation  is  an  accomplished  fact,  and  that 
nothing  is  needed  but  the  sinner’s  change  of  atti¬ 
tude  toward  God,  is  very  important,  for  it  knocks 
the  bottom  out  of  all  attempts  at  any  good  works 
as  a  means  of  salvation.  All  fastings  and  self  mor¬ 
tifications,  penances  and  pilgrimages,  scourgings 
and  privations — nay,  even  prayers  and  tears,  in 
hope  of  securing  favor  with  God,  are  a  snare.  In¬ 
stead  of  securing  Salvation,  they  prevent  it. 

The  English  word,  “Reconciliation,”  carries  the 
idea  of  mutuality.  In  all  human  alienations,  the 
aversion  is  mutual,  and  so  must  the  attraction  be 
by  which  it  is  corrected.  One  party  may  turn  to¬ 
ward  the  other,  taking  a  reconciling  attitude,  but  the 
reconciliation  is  only  partial,  until  there  is  a  re- 

509 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


sponse,  when  it  becomes  mutual.  We  must  be  care¬ 
ful  how  we  press  this  analogy  in  things  divine.  The 
Greek  word,  translated  “reconciliation,”  carries  no 
such  idea ;  moreover,  it  is  remarkable  that  there  is 
another  word  which  does  imply  mutual  change , 
whereas  this  refers  only  to  a  change  of  one  party 
from  enmity  to  friendship.* 

It  is  plain,  therefore,  that  all  the  change  neces¬ 
sary  in  order  to  perfect  reconciliation  with  God, 
and  so  to  fellowship,  may  be  instantaneous .  So 
soon  as  the  sinner  abandons  his  enmity  and  turns 
toward  God,  he  finds  the  open  arms  and  kiss  of 
Love.  He  is  at  once  reinstated  in  the  divine  house¬ 
hold,  as  a  son,  who  was  dead  and  is  alive  again,  was 
lost  and  is  found  (Luke  xv). 

Obedience,  however,  is  progressive.  The  Fellow¬ 
ship,  begun  in  Reconciliation,  is  thus  continued  and 
advanced,  as  every  step  in  a  common  path  advances 
travellers  on  toward  a  common  stopping  place.  This 
is  progressive  sanctification.  The  first  great  ques¬ 
tion  of  the  penitent  believer  is,  “Lord,  what  wilt 
thou  have  me  to  do?”  And  every  successive  step 
must  be  taken  in  the  same  spirit — conformity  to 
the  Will  of  God.  The  truest  fellowship  between 
any  two  intelligent  beings  is  found  in  having  one 
will,  as  well  as  one  way.  There  may  be  an  outward 
walk  together  where  there  is  inward  antagonism: 

*See  Robinson’s  Greek  Lexicon  of  the  New  Testament 
— katalasso  and  dialasso,  p.  384. 

3*0 


Fellowship  with  God. 

a  culprit  and  a  policeman,  handcuffed  together,  have 
to  walk  together,  but  they  are  far  from  agreed. 

One  may  enter  a  path,  in  a  moment,  by  one  step 
going  in  at  the  gate;  but  he  cannot  thus  cover  all 
the  distance  represented  by  the  path.  That  is  done 
by  successive  steps,  following  on  to  know  the  Lord, 
by  the  progressive  walk  of  a  holy  life. 

Three  little  words  in  the  New  Testament  carry 
great  weight:  “Stand,”  “Walk,”  “Sit”  The  first 
represents  the  believer’s  judicial  position,  or  stand¬ 
ing  in  Christ,  through  faith.  “Walk”  expresses  the 
change  from  place  to  place,  advancing  from  one 
duty  or  trial,  temptation  or  sorrow,  to  another,  un¬ 
der  divine  guidance.  “Sit”  suggests  the  end  of  our 
walk,  when  the  soul’s  quest  for  God  is  satisfied,  and 
we  rest  in  Him,  as  Christ  “sat  down”  when  His 
priestly  work  was  done. 

To  understand  this  progressive  walk  of  sanctifica¬ 
tion,  we  need  to  remember  that  obedience  is  submis¬ 
sion  to  authority,  and  that  authority  implies  Law. 
There  is  a  very  dangerous  doctrine,  working  like 
a  subtle  leaven  to  corrupt  even  disciples,  which  is 
nothing  less  than  antinomianism,  and  which  af¬ 
firms  that,  because  we  are  no  longer  “under  the 
Law  but  under  grace,”  therefore  all  Lazv  is  abro¬ 
gated;  and  this  position  finds  a  very  plausible  justi¬ 
fication  in  sundry  statements  of  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment  that  the  law  imposed  a  yoke  of  bondage  which 
neither  our  fathers  nor  we  were  able  to  bear,  but 
that  yoke  is  now  broken  and  we  are  introduced  into 

311 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


the  Liberty  of  the  Sons  of  God;  and  hence  it  is 
argued  that  even  such  a  law  as  that  of  Sabbath  rest 
is  no  longer  in  force. 

Such  views  of  obligation  betray  equally  false 
exegesis  of  scripture,  and  misleading  notions  of  le¬ 
gal  obligations.  Law  is  not  the  ground  of  the  sin¬ 
ner’s  Justification ,  for  “by  the  deeds  of  the  law  shall 
no  flesh  living  be  justified.”  But  Law  is  none  the 
less  the  Rule  of  Duty .  It  is  the  expression  of  God’s 
will  and  our  guide  as  to  what  pleases  Him ;  and  we 
are  expressly  told  that  “what  the  law  could  not  do, 
in  that  it  was  weak  through  the  flesh,  God  sending 
His  own  Son  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh,  and  for 
sin,  condemned  sin  in  the  flesh,  that  the  righteous¬ 
ness  of  the  law  might  be  fulfilled  in  us,  who  walk 
not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit”  (Rom.  viii: 

3.4)- 

The  Law  of  the  Old  Testament  is  both  ceremonial 
and  moral — the  former  part  having  to  do  with  typi¬ 
cal  ritual,  that  foreshadowed  a  coming  dispensation ; 
the  other,  with  immutable  principles  of  ethics.  One 
was  temporary  and  transient — the  shadow  of  things 
to  come  of  which  the  Body  is  Christ;  the  other  is 
eternal  and  permanent,  the  embodiment  in  com¬ 
mandment  of  the  moral  will  of  God.  Hence  a 
portion  of  the  Law,  known  as  the  “Ten  Words” 
of  Jehovah,  was  twice  graven  on  tablets  of  stone 
by  the  very  finger  of  God — separated  from  all  minor 
injunctions,  as  a  distinct  and  permanent  code. 

In  the  Creation  story  in  Genesis  will  be  found 

312 


Fellowship  with  God. 


Ten  Creative  Fiats.  “Afid  God  said”  is  the  keynote 
to  the  narrative,  the  burden  ten  times  repeated,  of 
this  magnificent  poem.*  Here  are  certain  immutable 
laws  for  the  government  of  the  material  Creation, 
such  as  universal  motion  and  rotation,  evaporation 
and  condensation,  cohesion,  gravitation,  revolution, 
affinity,  growth  and  multiplication.  There  has  not 
been  a  moment  since  when  such  natural  laws  have 
not  been  in  operation. 

In  Exodus,  we  meet  the  moral  Tenfold  Code. 
He  who  before  spoke  as  Creator,  here  speaks  as 
Governor,  and  His  commands  are  equally  change¬ 
less.  As  the  material  universe  would  fall  into  ruin  if 
natural  laws  should  cease  to  control,  so  the  moral 
order  is  dependent  on  these  commands  of  the  Deca¬ 
logue. 

This  moral  code  constitutes  an  organic  Body  of 
itself,  every  command  of  which  is  a  member  of  the 
body,  necessary  to  the  completeness  of  the  whole. 
Four  commands  relate  to  God:  the  first  puts  Him 
as  the  Supreme  Head  of  all  authority;  the  second 
defines  the  mode  of  His  worship  as  a  Spirit;  the 
third  forbids  all  careless  trifling  with  His  name, 
which  expresses  His  nature ;  the  fourth  forbids  tres¬ 
passing  on  the  time  He  sanctifies  unto  Himself.  Sim¬ 
ilarly  the  remaining  six  prescribe  duties  to  man, 
putting  the  Parent  at  the  head,  as  God’s  Representa¬ 
tive  in  the  family — then  guarding  all  human  inter- 


*Godet’s  Old  Testament  Studies,  133. 

3i3 


The  Bible  aiul  Spiritual  Life. 


ests — Life,  chastity,  property,  reputation,  and  finally 
forbidding  all  wrong  desire  after  what  is  another’s ! 

It  is  plain  that  here  is  a  complete  code  for  man’s 
guidance.  There  is  only  one  way  for  it  to  pass 
away — when  the  Perfect  Love  that  works  no  ill  to 
God  or  one’s  neighbor  so  rules  intelligent  beings,  as 
that  there  can  be  nothing  in  conduct  or  even  char¬ 
acter  that  could  mar  the  new  creation ;  then  and  not 
till  then  will  these  “ten  words”  pass  away,  because 
all  will  be  fulfilled. 

Yet  by  some  it  is  said  that  all  Law  is  abrogated , 
and  that,  among  the  abrogated  things,  Paul  men¬ 
tions  to  the  Colossians,  “the  Sabbaths”  (ii:i6). 
But  the  Sabbaths  he  refers  to  are  not  the  weekly 
rest  days  commanded  in  the  Moral  Code,  but  the  fes¬ 
tival  Sabbaths  of  the  Ceremonial — which  therefore 
are  in  the  same  category  with  ceremonial  meats  and 
drinks  and  new  moons  and  other  festival  days.  The 
plural  “Sabbaths”  is  commonly  used  in  the  Bible  in 
this  sense. 

Few  modern  laxities  work  worse  results  on  the 
whole  social  order,  family,  church  and  State,  than 
the  rapidly  increasing  and  flagrant  disregard  of  all 
Sabbatic  Law. 

Undoubtedly  this  law  of  rest,  one  day  in  seven, 
has  undergone  some  modification,  but  its  essential 
principle  survives.  In  Isaiah  lviii :  13,  14,  curiously 
about  midway  between  Moses  and  Christ,  and  in 
connection  with  significant  blessings  pronounced 
upon  the  “Repairer  of  the  Breach,  the  Restorer  of 

314 


Fellowship  with  God. 


Paths  to  dwell  in” — that  is,  one  who  rebuilds  what 
is  broken  down  and  restores  wanderers  to  forsaken 
ways  of  duty — we  read,  “If  thou  turn  away  thy  foot 
from  the  Sabbath,  from  doing  thy  pleasure  on  my 
holy  day, — and  call  the  Sabbath  a  delight,  the  holy 
of  the  Lord,  honorable;  and  shalt  honor  Him,  not 
doing  thine  own  ways,  nor  finding  thine  own  pleas¬ 
ure,  nor  speaking  thine  own  words,”  etc. 

It  is  most  noticeable  that  while  here  all  features 
of  Sabbath  observance  that  were  merely  external 
and  ceremonial  are  eliminated,  the  substantial  law” 
of  the  Sabbath  is  not  only  preserved  but  lifted  to  a 
more  sacred  plane.  The  Sabbath  observance  is 
modified  but  glorified — a  new  principle  is  enunci¬ 
ated,  in  accordance  with  which  the  day  is  to  be  re¬ 
garded,  not  primarily  as  a  Rest  day  from  labor,  but 
as  God's  Holy  Day — it  is  the  difference  between 
man's  holiday  and  God’s  Holy  Day — and  in  it  man 
is  to  abstain  from  “doing  his  own  ways,  finding  his 
own  pleasure,”  or  even  “speaking  his  own  words.” 
Before,  it  was  a  day  fenced  in  as  one  to  be  kept  for 
physical  rest;  but  now  it  is  to  be  a  day  of  mental 
repose,  and  spiritual  refreshment.  Even  the  tongue 
is  to  be  under  control,  and  selfish  pleasure  to  be 
curbed.  It  seems  to  be  a  sort  of  forecast  of  the 
permanent  features  of  the  weekly  Rest  Day.  Cer¬ 
tain  it  is  that  wherever  the  day  is  thus  kept  every 
richest  blessing  comes  to  a  community.  The  fact  is, 
however,  that,  on  pretext  of  freedom  from  legal  re¬ 
straints,  Sunday  is  fast  becoming  the  day  of  self- 

315 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


seeking  and  pleasure  seeking,  when  even  disciples 
find  their  own  pleasure  and  speak  their  own  words 
freely.  It  is  getting  to  be  the  day  pre-eminently  of 
recreation,  everything  but  the  Holy  of  the  Lord, 
kept  as  entitled  to  special  honor.  The  enemy  of 
God  and  man  must  rejoice  over  such  desecration  of 
what  the  Lord  has  consecrated.  Voltaire  more  than 
a  century  ago  declared,  “There  is  no  hope  of  de¬ 
stroying  Christianity  so  long  as  Sunday  is  kept  as  a 
holiday.”  Robert  Ingersoll,  discerning  in  the  Sab¬ 
bath  a  strong  defence  and  bulwark  of  the  whole 
Christian  system,  petulantly  cried  out:  “Sunday  is  a 
pest !  it  must  be  taken  out  of  the  way !”  The  oracles 
of  Infidelity  all  agree  in  a  like  verdict.  Wherever 
the  desecration  of  the  Lord’s  Day  prevails,  it  weak¬ 
ens  all  the  line  of  Christian  life  and  witness  before 
the  inrush  of  atheism  and  materialism.  Finally  to 
abandon  this  sacred  observance  would  be  prelimi¬ 
nary  to  a  sure  defeat  of  the  church  of  God,  in  all  the 
campaign  for  righteousness  and  peace,  imperiling 
all  the  highest  interests  of  men,  both  temporal  and 
eternal. 

If  the  Sabbath  of  weekly  rest  is  abrogated  as  part 
of  a  Law  no  more  in  force,  what  of  other  commands 
of  the  Decalogue?  Are  we  under  no  obligation  not 
to  use  graven  images  in  worship,  not  to  take  God’s 
name  in  vain?  And  are  the  six  commands  of  the 
Second  Table  abrogated?  Is  there  no  longer  an 
obligation  on  the  believer  to  honor  parents,  to  guard 
another’s  life,  chastity,  property,  etc.?  This  would 

316 


Fellowship  with  God. 


be  not  antimonianism  only,  but  anarchy,  sanctioned 
by  Christianity. 

But  it  is  said  the  Sabbath  is  a  Mosaic  Institution 
— far  from  it,  it  is  Edenic.  It  antedates  not  only  Si¬ 
nai  but  Sin,  and  is  the  only  surviving  relic  of  man’s 
innocence,  except  marriage.  God  saw,  even  before 
man  sinned,  that  he  needed  a  sacred  season  of  time 
once  in  seven  days.  This  is  one  of  two  institutions 
that  come  down  from  a  sinless  Edenic  life — thus 
joined  together  by  God — the  Sabbath  rest  and  the 
marriage  tie — is  it  surprising  that  man  cannot  put 
them  asunder  without  weakening  both !  Whenever 
the  Sabbath  is  desecrated  the  family  purity  is  di¬ 
minished,  if  not  lost. 

Moreover,  our  Lord  declared  the  eternal  principle : 
“The  Sabbath  was  made  for  man.”  It  meets  a  need 
which  will  continue  so  long  as  man’s  earthly  condi¬ 
tions  continue.  The  weekly  rest  is  needful  to  keep 
a  normal  balance  between  body  and  spirit.  The 
night’s  sleep  does  not  fully  recuperate  the  exhaus¬ 
tions  of  anxiety  and  activity,  and  the  weekly  re¬ 
currence  of  a  rest  day  is  restorative  and  complemen¬ 
tary.  One  of  the  greatest  of  British  physicians 
warns  his  fellow  countrymen  of  the  rapid  increase 
of  insanity,  and  says  that  if  this  goes  on,  as  now, 
it  will  not  be  long  before  the  bulk  of  the  race  will 
be  mentally  unhinged ;  and  it  has  been  found  that 
this  insanity  is  largely  due  to  the  push  and  drive 
of  modern  life,  for  which  the  Sabbath  is  God’s  cor¬ 
rective. 


3i7 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


The  change  of  day,  from  the  seventh  to  the  first, 
does  not  affect  the  principle;  for  it  is  not  any  par¬ 
ticular  twenty-four  hours  that  is  essential,  but  one 
day  in  seven.  In  fact  the  whole  human  race  can¬ 
not  keep  the  same  exact  time,  because  the  rotation 
of  the  earth  makes  the  day  different  in  different 
parts  of  the  earth.  So  long,  therefore,  as  the  same 
proportion  is  preserved,  with  uniformity  in  each 
locality,  all  essential  principles  are  conserved. 

The  historical  argument  is  overwhelming.  The 
logic  of  events  is  conclusive,  that  God  brands  Sab¬ 
bath  desecration  with  His  displeasure.  Who  of  us 
that  are  old  enough  to  remember  the  days,  not  so 
long  ago,  when  there  were  no  public  vehicles  run¬ 
ning  on  Sunday,  no  newspapers  hawked  in.  the 
streets,  no  shops  or  public  places  of  amusement 
open,  no  railroad  and  steamboat  excursions,  very 
little  traveling,  or  private  visiting  and  entertaining ; 
and  can  recall  the  quiet  of  the  hours,  the  full 
churches,  the  devout  household  habits,  the  general 
observance  of  the  rest  day,  and  contrast  all  these 
conditions  with  those  now  prevailing, — can  doubt 
that  so  far  as  man  has  trampled  on  God’s  decree  of 
the  Sabbath,  he  has  worked  harm  to  all  individual, 
domestic  and  social  life  as  well  as  ecclesiastical. 
The  tradition  in  ancient  Troy  was  that,  if  ever  the 
statute  of  Pallas  in  Minerva’s  Temple  were  removed, 
the  city  itself  would  be  destroyed.  The  Sabbath  is 
the  Palladium  in  the  Temple  of  our  Christian  civili- 

318 


Fellowship  with  God. 


zation,  and  if  it  falls  in  ruin,  it  means  widespread 
disaster  to  church  and  State,  and  Satan  knows  it. 

History  warns  us  that  the  Sabbath  was  made  for 
man;  for  the  preservation  of  his  physical,  mental, 
moral  and  spiritual  balance.  The  tendency  of 
crowding  all  seven  days  with  secular  work  is  to 
crowd  out  even  the  thought  of  God,  and  paralyze 
the  very  powers  by  which  we  commune  with  the 
unseen  and  eternal.  The  effect  of  consecrating  one 
day  in  seven  is  to  give  man  time  to  recover  from 
the  secularizing  influence  of  the  rest  of  the  week, 
or  better  still  prevent  the  business  of  this  world 
from  dragging  down  his  spiritual  life.  God's  week¬ 
ly  rest  recurs  often  enough  to  prevent  the  hallow¬ 
ing  influence  of  one  sacred  day  from  being  lost  be¬ 
fore  the  influence  of  another  is  felt,  reminding  us 
of  the  telegraph  poles  that  are  placed  near  enough 
together  to  prevent  the  wires,  however  they  sag 
between,  from  touching  the  earth.  Sabbath  observ¬ 
ance  is  a  help  to  fellowship  with  God. 

A  few  conspicuous  witnesses  might  be  heard  on 
this  great  question  in  these  perilous  days. 

“Quite  apart  from  the  religious  aspect  of  the 
question,  on  social  and  economic  grounds,”  says 
Dr.  McLaren  of  Manchester,  England,  “the  seventh 
day  of  rest  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  the 
well-being  of  the  nation.  The  present  tendency 
is  to  break  down  the  day  of  rest,  and  is,  therefore, 
I  think,  disastrous.  The  habit  of  attending  public 
worship  is  decreasing  in  proportion  to  population. 

3i9 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


The  old-fashioned  habit  of  rigorously  attending 
service  twice  a  day  is  dead,  the  change  being  chiefly 
because  of  the  indifference  of  parents.  It  was  cus¬ 
tomary  years  ago  for  children,  certainly  on  Sunday 
evening,  to  get  Christian  teaching  at  home  from 
their  parents.  The  child  was  taught  Gospel  truths 
at  its  mother's  knee ;  fitted  for  public  worship.  To 
some  extent,  no  doubt,  the  custom  still  obtains ;  but 
not  to  the  extent  that  it  obtained  in  my  own  boy¬ 
hood.  Sunday  school  teaching  is,  of  course,  of  the 
greatest  value ;  but  I  look  upon  the  Christian  teach¬ 
ing  of  parents  as  infinitely  better." 

The  echoes  are  still  heard  of  Hon.  Andrew  D. 
White’s  recent  utterance  regarding  the  Sabbath, 
the  occasion  for  which  arose  in  the  action  of  Bish¬ 
op  Luden,  of  the  Roman  Catholic  diocese  of  Syra¬ 
cuse,  in  refusing  Christian  burial  to  persons  who 
died  by  accident  on  Sunday  while  culpably  violat¬ 
ing  the  duties  and  obligations  of  that  day.  In  a 
letter  to  the  bishop,  heartily  commending  the  stand 
he  had  taken,  Dr.  White  said : 

“I  have,  for  some  time  past,  watched  with  ever- 
increasing  regret  the  tendencies  in  our  large  cities, 
and,  indeed,  to  some  extent  in  the  country  districts, 
toward  a  complete  paganizing  of  American  life  as 
regards  the  first  day  of  the  week.  The  extremes 
to  which  our  communities  have  gone  of  late  in  ap¬ 
pointing  every  sort  of  game  and  amusement  through 
the  morning  hours,  and  of  making  Sunday  resorts 
less  and  less  decent,  are  such  as  to  create  just  alarm 

320 


Fellowship  with  God. 


among  all  thinking  citizens.  It  was  under  this  con¬ 
viction  that  I  observed  the  very  bold  and  noble  stand 
which  you  have  taken.,, 

This  is  the  view,  not  of  an  extremist  nor  a  fanatic, 
but  of  a  liberal,  broad-minded  man,  who  sees,  as 
all  must  see  who  are  clear-eyed,  sound-minded,  and 
morally  erect,  that  the  “increasing  Sunday  desecra¬ 
tion  should  be  checked,  not  only  in  the  interests  of 
religion,  but  of  law,  order  and  public  morality.  The 
open,  flagrant,  defiant  violations  of  the  Sunday  laws 
and  of  long-established  and  honored  Sabbath  cus¬ 
toms  and  usages  are  sure  symptoms  of  a  spirit  of 
irreverence  for  all  laws  and  indifference  to  all  mor¬ 
al  obligations — a  spirit  fatal  to  the  well-being  of  the 
family,  the  home,  the  State,  and  of  every  other 
institution  which  men  hold  sacred  and  dear. 

All  antinomianism  is  unscriptural,  unspiritual,  un¬ 
christian.  Moral  law  can  never  be  abrogated,  as  a 
rule  of  conduct,  or  guide  to  character.  The  fact 
that  we  are  not  under  law  as  a  means  of  justification 
does  not  imply  that  we  are  not  under  law  to  Christ 
(i  Cor.  ix:2i)  as  to  the  regulation  of  life.  This 
is  to  displace  lawfulness  by  lawlessness,  and  obe¬ 
dience  by  apostasy.  Abrogation  of  law  can  take 
place,  even  under  a  system  of  grace,  only  so  far  as 
the  habit  of  voluntary  and  cheerful  obedience  makes 
all  law  unnecessary.  Holy  love  can  withhold 
nothing  due  to  God  or  man,  and  this  fulfilling  of 
law  is  Love’s  way  of  abrogating  it.  Habits  of 
obedience  imply  law,  for  otherwise  what  is  it  that 

321 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


is  obeyed,  and  what  is  the  standard  of  obedience? 
Law  transferred  within  by  love,  from  the  tables  of 
stone  to  the  fleshy  tablets  of  the  heart ;  this  is  the 
sublime  method  of  doing  away  with  legal  bondage 
(Psalm  xl:8). 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  obedience  is  impossible, 
because  the  standard  of  law  is  impracticable,  ideal, 
beyond  reach.  Does  God  then  command  impos- 
sibilities?  Yes,  in  a  sense,  and  partly  to  show  that, 
to  the  natural  man,  obedience  is  impossible,  and  so 
to  teach  that  a  true  obedience  is  spiritual,  and  be¬ 
longs  not  to  the  natural  but  supernatural;  and  so 
again  to  reveal  the  omnipotence  of  Grace  as  the 
corrective  of  human  impotence — how  Christ 
strengthening  me  I  can  do  all  things.  Obedience 
is  possible  therefore  only  so  far  as  fellowship  with 
God  is  maintained. 

In  i  Cor.  i  :g  we  read  those  remarkable  words, 
“ called  into  the  fellowship  of  His  Son,  Our  Lord, 
Jesus  Christ ” 

This  word,  koinonia,  with  its  various  kindred 
words,  is  used  thirty-eight  times,  in  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment,  translated  also  “communion/’  “partaker,” 
“companion,”  “partner,”  etc. 

The  dominant  idea  always  is  partnership,  which, 
of  course,  implies  mutuality.  There  can  be  no  one¬ 
sided  partnership.  This  thought  pervades  the  whole 
Scripture,  and  especially,  the  New  Testament.  We 
are  by  grace  introduced  into  partnership  with  our 
Lord  Jesus,  and  He  enters  into  partnership  with  us. 

322 


Fellowship  with  God. 


We  enter  into  His  sufferings,  and  He  equally  enters 
into  our  trials  and  temptations.  This  would  be  in¬ 
credible  were  it  not  for  Divine  teaching. 

This  explains  many  obscure  hints  in  Scripture,  and 
is  the  central  mystery  of  Grace.  On  the  one  hand, 
we  read,  that  Paul  “filled  up  that  which  was  behind, 
of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  in  his  flesh,”  and  was  a 
worker  together  with  God.  But  with  what  amaze¬ 
ment  do  we  read  of  God,  that,  “in  all  their  affliction, 
He  was  afflicted,”  literally,  in  all  their  adversity. 
He  was  no  adversary.  The  verses  following  explain 
the  meaning.  He  came  to  their  help,  in  the  time  of 
their  trouble,  the  Angel  of  His  Presence  saved  them, 
and  He  lifted  them  up  and  carried  them.  In  Judges 
x:i6  we  read:  “His  soul  was  impatient  of  the  mis¬ 
ery  of  Israel,”  literally,  was  shortened,  or  strait¬ 
ened.  He  so  entered  into  their  misery  that  He  felt 
Himself  in  straits,  like  His  people. 

In  Zech.  ii:8  He  says,  “Whoso  toucheth  you, 
toucheth  the  apple,”  or  better,  “pupil,  of  My  eye.” 

All  this  teaching  is  so  remarkable  that  it  taxes 
faith,  to  receive  it;  but  it  is  most  significant,  and 
inspiring.  It  sets  before  a  disciple  a  wonderful  mys¬ 
tery  of  Love.  He  is  privileged  to  think  of  Christ, 
Himself  as  his  partner,  and,  as  such,  associated  with 
all  his  experiences,  of  joy  and  sorrow,  trial  and  temp¬ 
tation.  He  may  count  on  His  help,  and  succor,  as  an 
ally.  He  is  not  to  indulge  any  thought,  or  aim  or 
pleasure,  or  engage  in  any  pursuit,  which  he  cannot 
ask  Him  to  share  with  him.  That  would  be  to  in- 

323 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


suit  his  heavenly  partner.  But  on  the  other  hand, 
when  he  finds  himself  in  sore  straits  and  knows  not 

i 

how  to  save  himself  from  moral  or  spiritual  bank¬ 
ruptcy,  he  may  look  confidently  for  His  interposition, 
as,  in  business,  one  man  might  count  on  his  asso¬ 
ciate  in  the  firm.  Reverently  we  may  say  that  the 
disciple  and  his  Lord  are  embarked  in  a  common 
venture,  with  common  risks.  Each  comes  to  the 
other’s  aid.  There  is  some  work  for  doing  which 
He  counts  on  the  disciple,  without  whose  co-opera¬ 
tion  it  will  not  and  cannot  be  done,  as  the  work  of 
witnessing  to  a  dying  world.  But  there  is  other 
work  which  cannot  be  accomplished  without  the 
Lord.  He  is  so  necessary  that,  unless  He  comes  to 
our  aid,  defeat  and  disaster  are  inevitable.  Nay, 
we  may  say  more  than  this,  we  shall  be  absolutely 
helpless  and  hopeless.  Satan  is  more  than  a  match 
for  the  strongest  disciple.  In  the  crisis  of  a  mighty 
temptation,  or  an  insupportable  sorrow  we  must 
hear  him  saying:  “Ye  shall  not  need  to  fight  in  this 
battle,  for  the  battle  is  not  yours,  but  God's.” 

Here  is  the  grand  solution  of  all  problems  of  spir¬ 
itual  life.  When,  in  any  respect  we  are  at  our  wit’s 
end,  and  our  wisdom  or  strength,  or  both,  utterly  fail 
us,  instead  of  giving  way  to  despair  or  despondency, 
it  is  our  privilege  and  right,  to  count  on  God  in  pro¬ 
portion  to  the  greatness  of  the  emergency,  and,  in  a 
sense,  involve  Him,  as  a  joint  partner,  in  our  diffi¬ 
culties.  He  is  not  a  partner  for  fair  weather  only, 
resigning  His  connection  with  the  firm  when  serious 

324 


Fellowship  with  God. 


complications  arise.  When  insolvency  threatens  is 
the  time  when  His  fellowship  with  us  in  the  business 
is  of  most  value.  This  is  not  a  “Limited  liability” 
company,  where  He  seeks  to  evade  failure  by  setting 
a  legal  limit  to  responsibility.  Never  does  He  so 
delight  in  His  fellowship  with  us,  as  when  we  most 
feel  our  absolute  inadequacy  to  act,  move,  or  at¬ 
tempt  to  live  without  God.  And  it  may  safely  be 
added,  that,  in  no  circumstances,  will  God  be  found 
more  a  present  God  and  a  mighty  helper  than  when 
the  crisis  is  most  intolerable.  We  may  well  have 
had  experience  of  darkness,  unrelieved,  prayer  un¬ 
answered,  sin  for  the  time  triumphant,  and  affliction 
insupportable,  if  at  last  we  have  learned  that  He  is 
for  us  when  even  He  has  seemed  against  us.  In  the 
crisis  of  His  passion  in  the  garden  our  Lord  besought 
His  disciples,  “Tarry  ye  here,  and  watch  with  Me/* 
May  we  not  in  our  crises  confidently  ask  Him  to 
watch  with  us  ? 

Fellowship  with  God  is  the  secret  of  resistance  to 
the  Devil.  There  are  some  difficulties  and  foes  that 
even  the  believer  is  incompetent  to  deal  with.  He 
must  “stand  still  and  see  the  Salvation  of  the  Lord” 
(2  Chr.  xx :  14-26). 

In  one  of  David’s  inspired  songs,  he  refers  to  the 
sons  of  Belial  as  “thorns  which  cannot  be  taken  hold 
of  with  the  hands ;  the  man  that  would  touch  them 
must  be  fenced  with  iron  and  the  staff  of  a  spear.” 
Thorns  must  be  burned,  not  handled.  We  all  find 
out  that  in  conflicts  with  the  Devil,  he  is  too  wily  for 

325 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


the  wisest  saint  and  too  mighty  for  the  strongest. 
Michael,  the  archangel,  durst  not  contend  with 
him,  far  less  durst  Joshua,  the  High  Priest; 
both  could  only  say,  “the  Lord  rebuke  thee.” 
We  can  do  no  more  than  put  on  the 
whole  armor  of  God,  and  stand,  and  let 
the  Lord  defend  and  protect  us,  and  defeat  and 
vanquish  our  adversary.  And,  as  the  Britsh  sol¬ 
diers  used  to  ask  on  the  eve  of  an  engagement,  “is 
Wellington  here?”  feeling  confident  that  the  winner 
of  forty  battles  was  invincible;  so-,  infinitely  more 
must  the  disciple  rely  upon  Him  who  was  manifested 
to  destroy  the  works  of  the  Devil  and  cannot  be  de¬ 
feated  even  by  the  Arch  Enemy. 

Ulysses  is  fabled  to  have  defeated  the  Syrens,  by 
causing  himself  to  be  bound  to  the  mast,  his  ears 
and  those  of  his  sailors  being  stopped  with  wax,  lest 
they  should  hear  their  seductive  song ;  but  it  is  said 
that  Orpheus  followed  another  and  wiser  device ;  he 
took  aboard  his  lyre,  and  drowned  their  song  in  the 
melody  of  his  own  hymns  of  praise.  We  need  a 
positive  method  to  make  us  proof  against  Satan’s 
wiles. 

Such  fellowship  explains  what  it  is  to  “abide  in 
our  calling  with  God.” 

Mrs.  Garfield,  in  a  letter  written  to  her  husband 
some  years  previous  to  his  election  to  the  Presidency, 
gives  us  a  glimpse  of  how  humble  household  ser¬ 
vice  may  be  illumined  by  the  spiritual  uplift  of  such 
fellowship.  She  says:  “I  am  glad  to  tell  you  that 

326 


Fellowship  with  God. 


out  of  all  the  toil  and  disappointment  of  the  summer 
just  ended  I  have  risen  up  to  a  victory ;  that  silence 
of  thought  since  you  have  been  away  has  won  for 
my  spirit  a  triumph.  I  read  something  like  this  the 
other  day:  ‘There  is  no  healthy  thought  without  la¬ 
bor,  and  thought  makes  the  labor  happy/  Perhaps 
this  is  the  way  I  have  been  able  to  climb  up  higher. 
It  came  to  me  one  morning  when  I  was  making 
bread.  I  said  to  myself :  ‘Here  I  am,  compelled  by 
an  inevitable  necessity  to  make  our  bread  this  sum¬ 
mer.  Why  not  consider  it  a  pleasant  occupation, 
and  make  it  so  by  trying  to  see  what  perfect  bread 
I  can  make?' 

“It  seemed  like  an  inspiration,  and  my  whole  life 
grew  brighter.  The  very  sunshine  seemed  flowing 
down  through  my  spirit  into  the  white  loaves,  and 
now  I  believe  my  table  is  furnished  with  better  bread 
than  ever  before ;  and  this  truth,  as  old  as  creation, 
seems  just  now  to  have  become  fully  mine — that  I 
am  not  the  shrinking  slave  of  toil,  but  its  regal  mas¬ 
ter,  making  whatever  I  do  yield  to  me  its  best 
fruits.” 

We  see  the  force  of  that  New  Testament  expres¬ 
sion  “IN  CHRIST  JESUS.” 

The  highest  point  to  which  New  Testament  reve¬ 
lation  carries  us  is  this  conception  of  Fellowship 
with  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  life  and  service,  suf¬ 
fering  and  glory. 

Christ  was  made  sin  for  us.  He  becomes  the  Repre¬ 
sentative  Sinner,  even  to  the  point  of  dying  in  the 

327 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


sinner’s  behalf,  and  going  into  the  grave  bearing  his 
sin  and  its  penalty;  but  in  the  resurrection  His  hu¬ 
miliation  ends  and  His  exaltation  begins ;  and  by  as 
much  as  He  was  identified  with  the  sinner,  the  sin¬ 
ner  is  now  identified  with  Himself.  Henceforth  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Representative  Saint.  In 
awaking  from  the  death  sleep,  and  sloughing  off  the 
discarded  wrappings  of  the  sepulchre,  He  shows 
Himself  the  Prince  of  Life,  and  that  it  is  not  possi¬ 
ble  that  He  should  be  holden  of  Death.  He  puts  on 
the  new  man,  the  incorruptible  Body  of  the  Resur¬ 
rection  and  its  new  celestial  attire,  miraculously  pro¬ 
vided,  and  begins  His  Forty  Days’  Walk  in  newness 
of  Life,  a  Resurrection  Life  of  new  experience  even 
to  Him  as  the  Incarnate  Godman.  Then  He  arose, 
and  took  His  seat  at  the  right  hand  of  God. 

Now  the  wonder  is  that  all  this  the  believer  is 
represented  as  also  doing  in  Him  as  his  representa¬ 
tive.  The  two  are  regarded  and  treated  as  identical . 
In  Him  the  believing  and  penitent  sinner  dies ;  it  is 
as  though  the  believing  thief  on  the  cross  where  he 
was  suffering  the  due  reward  of  his  deeds,  had  by 
faith  been  transferred  from  his  own  cross  to  that 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  Him  died  a  painless 
death,  all  his  merited  suffering  transferred  to  that 
vicarious  sufferer — he  becoming  so  one  with  Him  as 
to  be  from  that  moment  identified  with  his  whole 
future  in  Paradise. 

To  abide  in  the  Will  of  God  is  to  abide  in  abso¬ 
lute  Safety.  David  said  to  Abiathar,  “Abide  thou 

32  8 


Fellowship  with  God. 


with  me.  Fear  not ;  for  he  that  seeketh  my  life  seek- 
eth  thy  life ;  but  with  me  thou  shalt  be  in  safeguard” 
(i  Sam.  xxii:23).  So  speaks  God  to  the  humblest 
believer.  Is  not  this  the  true  interpretation  of  that 
Ninety-first  Psalm,  that  to  all  Commentators  seems 
such  a  mystery?  Is  not  that  Secret  Place  of  the 
Most  High,  where  one  abides  under  the  very  shadow 
of  the  Almighty,  covered  with  His  feathers  and  hid¬ 
ing  trustfully  under  His  wings — simply  the  Will  of 
God!  There  abiding,  in  vain  does  the  Fowler  spread 
his  snares  for  our  feet,  or  the  adversary  hurl  at  us 
his  darts  of  death.  Into  that  sacred  chamber  of  the 
Divine  Presence  neither  the  pestilence  that  walketh 
in  darkness  nor  the  destruction  that  wasteth  at  noon¬ 
day  can  find  entrance.  Here  we  tread  upon  the 
young  lion  and  adder  and  trample  under  foot  even 
the  Dragon. 

In  such  Fellowship  there  is  security  from  all  ap¬ 
proaches  of  false  doctrine  and  the  uncertainty  of 
doubt.  At  one  time  when  inroads  of  heretical  teach¬ 
ing  were  feared  in  Britain  there  was  a  movement  in 
favor  of  multiplying  credal  statements,  and  one 
prominent  brother  urged  it,  on  the  ground  that  a 
few  additional  “guide  posts  would  be  helpful,  espe¬ 
cially  when  there  was  a  little  mist  about.”  But 
Baldwin  Brown,  then  chairman  of  the  Congrega¬ 
tional  Union,  quietly  rejoined  that  more  “guideposts 
would  be  of  little  use  when  there  was  a  competent 
and  living  Guide.”* 


*Life  of  Jos.  Parker,  129. 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


Fellowship  with  God  is  the  all  sufficient  antidote 
to  anxiety — the  cure  of  Care,  Anxious  thoughts 
are  not  only  useless,  but  worse,  for  they  burden  us 
with  the  anticipation  of  troubles  that  never  come, 
while  they  avert  or  avoid  no  real  and  inevitable 
troubles,  and  only  double  them  by  anticipation. 

It  is  no  wonder  if,  when  once  the  consciousness 
of  such  Fellowship  is  enjoyed,  even  Death  loses  all 
terrors  and  becomes  nothing  but  the  Messenger,  not 
of  the  King  of  Terrors  but  of  the  King  of  Glory. 
Stephen’s  death,  though  by  stoning — the  first  re¬ 
corded  death  of  a  believer  after  our  Lord’s  Resur¬ 
rection — seems  to  be  intended  as  typical.  His  per¬ 
fect  calmness,  his  radiant  face,  lit  up  with  solar  light, 
his  entire  absence  of  resentment — “Lord,  lay  not 
this  sin  to  their  charge” — his  vision  of  the  Risen 
Christ,  and  his  quiet  falling  asleep — all  seem  to  hint 
that  henceforth  even  a  cruel  death  loses  its  horrors 
and  terrors  to  one  who  is  in  fellowship  with  God. 
And  with  the  fear  of  death  vanishes  the  fear  of 
Judgment,  “because,  as  He  is  so  are  we  in  this 
world”  (i  John  iv). 

We  can  understand  why  saints  have  forbidden 
survivors  to  mourn.  “I  particularly  request  and  di¬ 
rect  that  at  my  death  those  who  love  me  will  put 
on  no  sign  of  mourning,  but  that  they  will  think  of 
me  as  promoted  to  a  higher  school,  where  I  shall 
meet  my  Lord,  and  know  even  as  I  am  known.”* 


♦Will  of  Mrs.  Emma  J.  Parker. 

330 


Fellowship  with  God. 


The  great  essential  truths  about  Fellowship  are 
illustrated,  if  not  intentionally  taught,  in  the  tab¬ 
ernacle,  as  by  an  object  lesson.  The  outer  court 
emphatically  teaches  the  terms  of  Fellowship,  in  the 
Altar  and  Laver,  as  conditioned  on  two  things,  the 
blood  and  the  Spirit — the  blood  to  atone,  the  Spirit 
to  regenerate.  Then  the  Holy  Place  teaches  the 
Forms  of  Fellowship — how  we  are  to  walk  with 
God :  as  stewards  holding  all  property  in  trust ;  as 
witnesses  holding  all  truth  in  trust  for  testimony ;  as 
supplicators  and  intercessors  holding  the  privilege 
of  access  to  God  in  trust  as  the  greatest  of  all  means 
for  promoting  His  Kingdom.  Then,  if  we  would 
learn  the  very  goal  of  all  Fellowship,  it  is  repre¬ 
sented  in  the  Holiest  Place  where  we  meet  God  Him¬ 
self,  abiding  in  His  very  Presence,  and  united  with 
His  very  Person  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  astounding  teaching  of  the  New  Testament 
is  that  by  faith  every  penitent  sinner  is  taken  up 
into  Christ’s  Personality,  so  that  in  Him  he  dies  for 
sin  and  to  sin,  in  Him  is  buried  by  Baptism  into 
death,  and  at  once  acquires  in  Him  an  entirely  new 
standing — a  permanent  position,  justified  and  ac¬ 
cepted  with  the  Father  as  himself  a  son  of  God ; 
then  in  Him  a  new  attire  of  heavenly  tempers  and 
manners  and  outward  conduct,  henceforth  enabled 
to  walk  in  wisdom  toward  those  who  are  without — 
an  essentially  heavenly  walk  on  earth.  Then,  still 
in  Him  attaining  the  privilege  of  a  Seat  at  God’s 
right  hand — satisfaction  in  God  as  his  supreme  joy, 

33i 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


strength,  hope,  trust,  and  eternal  reward.  This  reve¬ 
lation  of  the  believer’s  fellowship  with  Christ  is  so 
absolutely  unique — so  entirely  original,  so  peculiar 
to  the  New  Testament,  and  so  manifestly  superhu¬ 
man,  that  it  is  enough  of  itself  to  stamp  the  Bible 
as  incontestabty  a  divine  book. 

Such  fellowship  with  God  is  a  privilege  open  even 
to  a  child. 

One  most  marvelous  feature  of  the  Bible  is  that 
it  is  emphatically  the  children’s  hook.  This  we 
should  not  expect,  and  it  is  unique.  No  other  book 
ever  written  that  dealt  with  such  profound  mysteries 
has  had  also  any  such  adaptation  to  children.  And 
moreover,  note  the  marks  of  design.  Every  par¬ 
ticular  phase  of  childlife  is  touched  somewhere  and 
somehow  once  for  all,  and  without  repetition.  Just 
enough  examples  are  given  to  illustrate  all  needed 
lessons,  and  no  such  lesson  is  left  out  or  emphasized 
out  of  proportion.  Samuel’s  childhood  is  recorded 
to  teach  us  that,  in  the  person  of  a  little  child,  the 
Lord  may,  after  centuries  of  silence,  unseal  the  lips 
of  prophecy  and  restore  the  open  vision.  Solomon’s 
youth  is  portrayed  for  the  purpose  of  exemplifying 
how  a  mere  lad  may  please  God  by  a  request  that 
reveals  Supreme  wisdom.  John  Baptist’s  childhood 
showed  how  even  from  birth  a  child  may  be  filled 
with  the  Holy  Spirit.  Timothy’s  early  history 
proves  how  from  a  child  one  may  shew  an  aptitude 
for  piety  and  know  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Daniel’s 
youth  reveals  remarkable  power  of  self  restraint, 

332 


Fellowship  with  God. 


even  over  the  appetites  which  in  most  children  have 
control.  David  is  an  example  of  early  faith  and 
courage,  daring  in  God’s  name  to  attack  even  a 
giant. 

Perhaps  no  more  notable  examples  can  be  found 
than  the  two  cases  of  nameless  children — one  the 
girl  who  waited  on  Naaman’s  wife;  the  other  the 
lad  that  had  the  five  barley  loaves  and  two  small 
fishes.  We  know  nothing  about  either  except  this 
one  thing:  One  was  a  mere  servant  maid  and  she 
simply  told  her  mistress  that  there  was  a  prophet  in 
Israel  who  could  recover  Naaman  of  his  leprosy ;  in 
the  other  an  unknown  and  poor  boy,  who  had  a  few 
small  buns  and  fishes,  barely  enough  for  one  hungry 
child,  gave  up  his  whole  supply  to  the  Lord  whose 
blessing  used  that  little  measure  of  provision  to  sat¬ 
isfy  five  thousand  hungry  men  beside  women  and 
children. 

How  plain  the  lessons  are,  how  they  match  each 
other  and  fit  human  need !  One  teaches  us  that  a 
little  girl  may  do  great  good  to  a  distinguished  gen¬ 
eral  by  simply  telling  what  she  knows  of  God’s 
power,  and  the  other,  that  a  mere  lad  may  give  what 
he  has  got  and  so  feed  a  hungry  multitude.  And 
we  cannot  forget  how  she  who  told  what  she  knew, 
knew  no  less  for  the  telling  and  helped  others  to 
know ;  and  that  he  who  gave  what  he  had,  got  back 
as  much  as  he  gave  and  fed  all  others  who  had  noth¬ 
ing. 

Then,  of  course,  the  climax  of  all  this  sublime 

333 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


teaching  is  in  the  childhood  of  our  Lord  Himself, 
who,  by  being  born  as  a  babe  and  living  as  a  boy  in 
a  family,  subject  to  oarental  authority,  and  learning 
a  trade,  forever  taught  Doys  the  beauty  of  obedience 
and  the  dignity  of  labor. 

This  Fellowship  finds  its  supreme  expression  in 
the  marital  bond ,  for  nothing  so  conveys  the  idea 
of  perfect  mutuality  as  ideal  wedlock. 

Bride  and  Bridegroom  are  partners  in  a  common 
family  life  and  home,  each  forsaking  father  and 
mother,  to  cleave  to  the  other.  They  share  a  com¬ 
mon  name:  Adam  called  Eve,  “Isha,  because  taken 
out  of  Ish.”  They  share  a  common  experience :  the 
mathematics  of  love  adding  to  and  multiplying  joys, 
and  subtracting  from  and  dividing  sorrows,  by  such 
sharing.  They  have  common  interests  and  occupa¬ 
tions,  co-workers  for  common  ends,  and  by  joint 
methods.  They  hold  property  and  possessions  in 
common.  They  have  essentially  one  history  and 
destiny. 

In  every  one  of  these  respects  the  New  Testament 
represents  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  His  church  as 
identified.  To  cite  textual  proofs  would  be  both 
impracticable  and  needless,  as  the  whole  inspired 
scroll  is  a  heavenly  marriage  contract  and  certificate, 
in  which,  with  the  golden  pen  of  inspiration,  all 
these  privileges  are  recorded  as  the  dowry  and  heri¬ 
tage  of  the  redeemed  church  1 


334 


CHAPTER  XI I. 

The  Problem  of  Service. 

The  Word  of  God  suppies  sundry  maxims  on 
this  subject  which  deserve  to  be  emblazoned  on  the 
banners  of  the  church  and  written  on  the  door-posts 
of  our  houses  and  on  our  gates,  to  be  kept  ever  be¬ 
fore  us. 

SERVE  AND  WAIT.  “Ye  turned  to  God  from 
idols  to  serve  the  living  and  true  God,  and  to  wait 
for  Plis  Son  from  heaven”  (i  Thess.  1:9,  10). 

TO  EVERY  MAN  HIS  WORK  (Mark  xiii:34). 

BY  LOVE  SERVE  ONE  ANOTHER  (Gala¬ 
tians  v:i3). 

DOING  THE  WILL  OF  GOD  FROM  THE 
HEART  (Ephes.  vi:6). 

SHE  HATH  DONE  WHAT  SHE  COULD 
(Mark  xiv:8). 

WHOSE  I  AM  AND  WHOM  I  SERVE  (Acts 
xxvii  :23). 

I  AM  AMONG  YOU  AS  HE  THAT  SERV- 
ETH  (Luke  xxii:27). 

These  are  sublime  mottoes,  couched  in  few  words, 
but  full  of  deep  meaning.  They  hint  at  the  true  at¬ 
titude  of  a  disciple,  serving  his  Lord  and  waiting  for 
his  reappearing;  they  suggest  that  the  Master  has 
called  every  one  of  us  to  some  form  of  work  and 
only  asks  of  us  to  do  what  we  can ;  that  we  belong 

335 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


to  Him  and  that  service  is  His  due ;  to  be  rendered  in 
love,  to  all  men  for  His  sake,  and  from  a  hearty  pur¬ 
pose  to  fulfil  the  will  of  God ;  and  that  the  Master 
Himself  has  set  us  an  example  of  unselfish  service. 

Among  the  hundred  words  which  stand  most 
prominent  in  the  Bible  this  word,  SERVICE,  is 
very  conspicuous,  and  more  so  the  conception  it 
represents.  Here  is  the  ultimate  end  toward  which 
all  else  properly  tends — the  true  goal  of  salvation 
and  sanctification.  No  man  lives  to  himself.  He  is 
saved  that  he  may  be  sanctified — conformed  to  the. 
image  of  God’s  dear  Son ;  but  even  such  conformity 
reaches  its  highest  result  in  helping  others  to  a  like 
destiny,  and  so  all  culminates  in  glory  to  God.  How 
plain  it  is  that  those  who  are  content  to  be  saved 
from  ruin,  themselves,  and  do  nothing  to  rescue 
others,  are  “blind  and  cannot  see  afar  off,”  so  short¬ 
sighted  in  spiritual  vision  as  to  lose  sight  altogether 
of  the  grand  final  purpose  of  their  own  redemption ! 

The  whole  Bible  is  saturated  with  this  conception 
of  service;  it  is  like  Gideon’s  fleece  when  the  least 
pressure  brought  out  drops  of  the  heavenly  dew. 
Or  it  is  like  the  Temple  waters  that  ran  under¬ 
ground,  appearing  at  intervals  in  the  pools,  like  those 
of  Siloam  and  Bethesda,  but  even  when  not  coming 
to  the  surface,  always  there  and  flowing.  The  idea 
of  service  is  pervasive,  and  the  forms  of  expression 
and  illustration  frequent  and  varied.  First  and  last 
and  all  the  way  through,  the  Holy  Scriptures  sum¬ 
mon  disciples  to  serve  God  and  man.  Some  of  the 

336 


The  Problem  of  Service. 


more  conspicuous  ways  in  which  this  challenge  is 
conveyed  and  enforced  we  shall  now  examine. 

i .  The  Parable  of  Nature. 

In  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  marked  stress  is 
laid  on  the  fact  of  capacity  for  reproduction  as  the 
sign  and  proof  of  perfect  development  of  Life . 
When  God  created  the  first  plants  and  animals,  in 
each  was  its  “seed  according  to  its  kind/’  and  God 
saw  that  it  was  good.  In  no  case  did  life  find  its  per¬ 
fection  without  this  power  of  reproduction.  Noth¬ 
ing  is  accidental  or  insignificant  in  God’s  Word,  and 
this  emphatic  repetition,  “whose  seed  is  in  itself  after 
his  kind,”  nine  times  occurring,  cannot  be  without  a 
purpose.  It  is  God’s  primary  lesson  on  Service. 

How  constantly  we  meet  such  words  as  ‘Field” 
and  “Seed”  “sower”  and  “reaper,”  “seed  time”  and 
“harvest  time” — applied  to  service !  The  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  interprets  the  parable  of  nature  by  the  para¬ 
ble  of  grace.  “The  Field  is  the  World,”  and  the  seed 
is  of  two  sorts :  “The  good  seed  is  the  Word  of 
God  and  “The  good  seed  are  the  children  of  the 
Kingdom ”  (Compare  Matthew  xiii :  19,  38).  The 
meaning  is  not  obscure.  It  is  God’s  way  of  bring¬ 
ing  men  to  the  knowledge  of  Himself  to  use  His  in¬ 
spired  Word  together  with  His  believing  children — 
His  truth  on  the  one  hand  and  their  testimony  to 
the  truth  on  the  other.  Truth  is  always  most  con¬ 
vincing,  not  in  abstract,  but  concrete  forms,  and  be¬ 
lievers  are  to  be,  like  their  Master,  the  word  made 
flesh  and  dwelling  among  men — every  child  of  God 

3  37 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

a  sort  of  new  incarnation  of  the  truth,  witnessing  to 
others. 

The  Field  is  the  world — the  whole  world;  “every 
creature”  the  subject  and  object  of  effort;  and  every 
believer  a  seed  of  God,  necessary  for  the  sowing  of 
the  world  field  and  the  final  harvest  for  the  garner. 

This  parable  of  nature  teaches  lessons  of  supreme 
value : 

First,  that,  unless  divinely  implanted  by  the  Word 
of  God,  there  is  no  life  in  us.  By  no  “spontaneous 
generation”  can  spiritual  life  produce  itself.  Lord 
Kelvin  president  of  the  Naturalist  Society  in  Eng¬ 
land,  said  in  1871,  in  his  famous  opening  address: 

“A  minute  examination  has  not,  up  to  this  time, 
discovered  any  power,  capable  of  originating  life, 
but  life  itself.  Inanimate  matter  cannot  become 
living  except  under  the  influence  of  matter,  already 
living.  This  is  a  fact  in  science  as  well  ascertained 
as  the  law  of  gravitation.  And  I  am  ready  to  accept 
as  an  article  of  faith,  in  science,  valid  for  all  time 
and  in  all  space,  that  LIFE  IS  PRODUCED  BY 
LIFE  AND  ONLY  BY  LIFE.” 

Infinitely  more  true,  if  possible,  is  it  that  divine 
life  in  the  human  spirit  comes  only  from  divine  seed. 
“He  that  soweth  the  good  seed  is  the  Son  of  Man.” 
What  was  the  good  seed  He  sowed?  The  Word  of 
God,  which  He  not  only  spake  and  taught,  but  lived 
and  WAS.  Until  His  teaching  finds  in  us  a  place,  as 
seed  in  the  soil,  we  have  no  life  in  us  (John  vi  :53, 
63).  His  teaching,  containing  vital  truth  about  sal- 

338 


The  Problem  of  Service. 


vation  and  enforced,  illustrated,  incarnated  in  His 
own  life  and  work,  is  life-giving  to  human  souls. 
This  is  the  first  stage — implantation. 

Then  comes  the  second  stage.  The  seed  of  truth 
must  “take  root  downward  and  bear  fruit  upward.” 
It  must  find  a  reception  in  the  heart,  room  and  root, 
if  it  is  to  develop  into  blade  and  ear.  Down  deeper 
that  mere  outward  hearing,  or  even  intellectual  un¬ 
derstanding,  it  must  penetrate  to  the  heart  and  con¬ 
science  and  lay  hold  of  affections  and  will.  This  is 
the  stage  of  germination. 

But  even  germination  has  its  stage  of  perfection: 
“first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  then  the  full  grown 
corn  in  the  ear.”  There  may  be  a  growth — such  as 
is  indicated  in  the  third  sort  of  soil  (Matt.  xiii:22), 
when  the  blade  attains  a  certain  length  of  stalk,  but 
forms  no  ear,  or  if  so  no  kernel.  But  this  is  not 
growth  into  perfection.  True  normal  development 
produces  the  seed  in  itself  after  its  kind.  This  is  the 
third  stage,  fructification. 

Our  Lord  reminds  us  that,  even  yet,  there  must 
be  a  death  of  the  seed  if  it  is  to  attain  its  divine  des¬ 
tiny.  “Except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground 
and  die  it  abideth  alone;  but,  if  it  die,  it  bringeth 
forth  much  fruit”  (John  xii:24).  It  is  God’s  will 
that  no  believer  abide  alone.  Even  our  Lord  Him¬ 
self  had  a  horror  of  such  abiding  alone,  and  wel¬ 
comed  the  cross,  that,  dying,  He  might  bring  forth 
much  fruit.  What  is  this  death?  In  the  case  of 
the  seed  it  is  not  absolute  but  relative ;  it  dies,  as  a 

339 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


seed ,  to  live  as  a  crop ;  nothing  really  perishes  except 
the  original  form  of  the  seed.  In  the  disciple’s  case, 
death  is  the  voluntary  sacrifice  of  self-interest.  He 
dies  to  self  that  he  may  live  to  God.  But  as  in  the 
case  of  the  seed,  it  is  not  a  final  and  absolute  loss, 
even  of  the  self  life.  Like  his  Master,  his  cross  and 
tomb  have  a  resurrection  after  them.  He  loses  life 
now  to  find  it  hereafter.  Self-interest  is  sacrificed  in 
this  world  to  be  found  in  a  higher  sense  in  the  world 
to  come.  Present  selfindulgence,  self  seeking,  self 
advantage  are  laid  on  the  altar  of  service;  but  no 
self-denial  is  a  final  forfeiture,  only  a  temporary 
postponement.  He  that  loseth  his  life  in  this  world 
keeps  it  unto  life  eternal.  This  is  the  fourth  stage — 
self-abnegation  in  order  to  dissemination. 

Then  follows  the  grand  result — the  harvest.  And 
our  Lord  suggests  its  possible  magnitude — 
“some  thirty,  some  sixty,  some  an  hundred  fold.” 
This  language  simply  follows  the  figurative  form  of 
the  truth  He  presents — a  part  of  the  drapery  of  the 
parable.  The  ordinary  ear  of  grain  contains  not  less 
than  thirty  kernels;  but  Isaac’s  sowing  at  Gerar 
yielded  an  hundred  fold  (Gen.  xxv:i2),  which 
doubtless  suggested  this  high  measure  of  fruitfulness 
in  this  parable. 

But  let  us  consider  what  hopes  this  language  in¬ 
spires,  construed  literally.  If  we  roughly  estimate 
at  five  hundred  millions  the  professed  number  of 
Christians  now  living,  and  reckon  only  one  in  ten 
of  them  all  as  truly  regenerate,  what  a  harvest  would 

340 


The  Problem  of  Service. 


be  possible  even  with  an  average  increase  of  thirty¬ 
fold  !  Suppose  every  disciple  of  these  fifty  millions 
to  be  the  means  of  multiplying  himself  or  her¬ 
self  thirtyfold,1 — being  the  instrument  of  saving  one 
soul  each  year  for  thirty  years — at  the  end  of 
that  time  the  number  of  disciples  would  equal 
the  entire  present  population  of  the  globe — 
fifteen  hundred  million !  And  should  each  mul¬ 
tiply  an  hundredfold — which  supposes  only  about 
three  souls  saved  a  year,  as  the  fruits  of  every 
disciple’s  tillage,  the  Christian  population  would  at 
the  end  of  a  third  of  a  century  be  more  than  three 
times  the  whole  human  family  now  living !  So  easy 
would  it  be,  humanly  speaking,  to  people  this  globe 
in  the  course  of  the  life  time  of  one  generation,  with 
disciples  of  Christ.  This  suggests  the  fifth  and  last 
stage — multiplication. 

We  are  quite  aware  that  the  problem  of  a  world’s 
evangelization  and  salvation  cannot  be  solved  arith¬ 
metically.  Yet  our  Lord’s  own  words  have  sug¬ 
gested  this  numerical  calculation  and  estimate,  and 
it  is  but  too  obvious  that  most  of  us  live  an  essential¬ 
ly  selfish  life,  even  as  Christians,  content  to  abide 
alone,  and  practically  heedless  of  the  world  field. 

It  is  hinted  in  Genesis  that  God’s  plan  is  to  subdue 
the  world  by  this  multiplication  of  the  good  seed  of 
the  Kingdom.  To  our  first  parents  He  said,  “Be 
fruitful  and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth  and 
subdue  it.”  This  suggests  that  He  purposes  that  the 
higher  forms  of  life  shall  predominate,  and  so  domi- 

34i 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


nate  the  lower.  It  is  the  triumph  of  mind  over  mat¬ 
ter,  brain  force  over  brute  force,  spirit  over  flesh. 
Sometimes  the  farmer  plentifully  sows  a  vigorous 
sort  of  grain  that  its  stronger  vitality  may  crowd 
out  and  displace  noxious  weeds;  and  often  in  the 
animal  realm,  breeding  strong  types  of  animals  in 
due  time  does  away  with  the  weaker  and  diseased. 
God  has  ordained  that  there  shall  always  and  every¬ 
where  be  left,  virtue,  intelligence,  industry,  honesty 
and  integrity  enough  to  cope  with  vice,  ignorance, 
indolence,  fraud  and  crime ;  the  only  necessity  being 
a  proper  application  of  the  better  elements  to  the  so¬ 
cial  corruption — as  a  little  salt  may  arrest  the  decay 
of  a  whole  mass.  The  divine  way  of  subduing  the 
evil  in  this  world  is  by  multiplying  the  good  and  se¬ 
curing  right  contact.  And  every  evil  doer,  turned 
into  a  doer  of  good,  both  decreases  the  forces  of 
evil  and  increases  those  of  righteousness.  Here, 
then,  we  find  a  sixth  principle:  subjugation. 

The  same  lesson  in  Genesis  hints  a  succession  of 
crops.  Every  harvest  furnishes  “seed  for  the  sower 
as  well  as  bread  for  the  eater,”  and  so  rapidly  does 
seed  multiply  in  geometrical  progression  that  a  sin¬ 
gle  grain  of  wheat,  multiplying  through  twenty  suc¬ 
cessive  crops,  might  yield  enough  seed  to  plant  every 
square  foot  in  the  solar  system!  He  who  sets  in 
motion  a  good  word  or  work,  who  by  speech  or  ex¬ 
ample  starts  what  is  good,  is  first  in  a  series  that 
multiplies  infinitely  and  eternally. 

The  mother  of  John  Newton  by  her  prayers  and 


The  Problem  of  Service. 

tears  brought  her  profligate  boy  to  Christ.  He.  in 
turn,  was  blest  to  Thomas  Scott;  then  the  great 
commentator,  to  William  Cowper,  and  the  poet  to 
William  Wilberforce,  and  the  great  Emancipator  to 
Leigh  Richmond,  whose  tract,  “The  Dairyman’s 
Daughter,”  has  probably  been  the  means  of  saving 
millions.  But  think  what  fruit  will  ultimately  be 
found  to  be  due  to  that  agonizing  mother’s  plead¬ 
ings  for  her  wayward  son! 

When  Saul  of  Tarsus,  at  the  vision  of  the  Cruci¬ 
fied,  gave  up  his  own  will  and  way  for  his  new¬ 
found  Master’s,  how  little  he  imagined  the  final  har¬ 
vest  of  that  self-abnegation.  He  died  daily  that  he 
might  live  eternally,  in  souls  saved.  That  one  man 
planted  churches  all  through  Asia  Minor,  and  found¬ 
ed  at  Philippi,  the  mother  church  of  all  Europe  and 
America.  He  left  fourteen  epistles  and  we  are  to¬ 
day  reading,  studying  and  preaching  from  them. 
That  seed  fell  into  the  ground  that  day  to  die,  and 
already  there  is  no  measure  big  enough  to  estimate 
the  crop.  Here  then  is  the  last  of  these  seven 
thoughts  on  service  suggested  by  the  seed  sown  in 
the  field — increase  by  a  series  of  crops,  in  indefinite 
perpetuation  and  succession. 

II. — A  second  marked  stage  of  teaching,  on  the 
subject  of  service  is  reached  when  we  first  meet 
with  an  example  of  stewardship. 

This  proves  to  be  another  of  the  pervasive  ideas 
of  scripture,  and  here  again  we  shall  be  much  helped 
by  observing  the  first  mention  of  a  steward,  in  Gen- 

343 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

esis  xv  :2.  “The  steward  of  my  house  is  this  Eliezer 
of  Damascus.”  The  literal  rendering  here  is:  “the 
Son  of  possession,”  that  is,  the  possessor  of  my 
house  or  personal  property:  “this  son  of  Mesek  is 
Dammesek — Eliezer”:  there  is  an  alliteration  and 
play  on  words  in  the  original  not  seen  in  English, 
but  apparent  in  the  Septuagint.  Eliezer  is  probably 
the  same  man  referred  to  in  chapter  xxiv  :2,  as  Abra¬ 
ham’s  eldest  servant,  whom  he  sent  to  Padan-Aram 
to  take  a  wife  for  Isaac.  It  is  significant  that  in  this 
first  “steward”  mentioned  in  the  Bible  its  Author 
has  given  all  needful  hints  as  to  what  stewardship 
involves.  It  is  expressly  stated  that  “all  the  goods 
of  his  master  were  in  his  hand”  (xxiv:io);  that 
his  master  was  “become  great,  in  flocks  and  herds 
and  silver  and  gold,  men  servants  and  maid  servants, 
and  camels  and  asses”  (35).  The  steward  was  con¬ 
tent  to  be  known  as  his  master’s  “servant,”  and,  in 
his  visit  to  Laban’s  home  he  does  not  even  appear  to 
have  revealed  or  used  his  own  name ,  but  is  known 
throughout  the  narrative,  simply  as  Abraham’s  serv¬ 
ant.  Though  all  the  goods  of  his  master  are  in  his 
hand,  he  never  calls  them  his  own,  treats  them  as  his 
own  or  uses  them  for  his  own  purposes.  They  are  al¬ 
ways  his  master’s  goods,  in  his  hand  only  for  his 
master’s  uses.  Our  Lord  hints  that  stewards  should 
be  “faithful  and  wise,”  and  Eliezer  well  exemplifies 
these  two  qualities  uniformly  represented  as  per¬ 
taining  to  an  ideal  steward :  faithfulness  in  always 
using  what  he  held  for  his  master ;  wisdom  in  study- 

344 


The  Problem  of  Service. 


ing  how  to  make  them  most  profitable  in  promoting 
his  master’s  ends.  As  we  follow  his  course,  we  see 
how  remarkable  were  his  zeal,  fidelity,  sagacity  and 
unselfishness — the  last  amounting  to  absolute  self- 
oblivion.  Nor  is  it  any  accident  that,  in  presenting 
this  scripture  portrait  of  the  ideal  steward,  the  name 
given  him,  “Eliezer,”  means  my  God  is  my  Help — 
the  highest  lesson  of  all;  for  how  can  I  as  God’s 
steward  be  a  help  to  my  Master,  if  my  Master  Him¬ 
self  is  not,  at  every  step  and  stage,  my  help  ? 

This  conception  of  divine  help  is,  with  exquisite 
beauty,  set  forth  in  the  narrative  in  Genesis.  As 
he  started  on  his  errand,  he  sanctified  it  by  a  solemn 
vow  of  fidelity.  He  is  to  go  forth,  as  Abraham’s 
confidential  servant,  with  authority  to  act  for  him, 
in  one  of  the  gravest  matters  possible — bringing 
back  a  bride  for  the  son  of  promise  and  heir  of  all 
things.  In  the  customary  way,  he  made  oath  as  to  the 
matter  in  charge,  and  then  went  forth  with  blessing. 
At  every  successive  step  he  sought  and  received  new 
divine  guidance.  Arriving  at  the  well  by  Nahor, 
he  made  his  camels  kneel  down  to  rest,  while  he 
knelt  to  pray.  With  the  simplicity  of  a  little  child, 
he  put  into  the  hands  of  the  Lord  the  whole  commis¬ 
sion  he  was  to  execute,  even  venturing  to  suggest 
the  form  of  the  sign  he  desires,  and  he  receives  the 
exact  providential  aid  he  asks.  Every  subsequent 
step  is  taken  in  a  like  spirit,  under  the  same  guid¬ 
ance.  The  jewels  of  his  master  are  displayed,  but 
only  to  win  the  bride  for  Isaac.  If  he  is  impatient 

345 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


of  indecision  and  delay,  it  is  only  because  his  mas¬ 
ter’s  business  requireth  haste,  and  it  is  his  master’s 
interests  that  he  always  pleads  and  urges. 

Whether  the  steward  here  portrayed  in  such  clear 
lines  and  glowing  colors  is  the  Eliezer  of  sixty  years 
before,  or  not,  we  have  here  a  complete  outline  of 
what  stewardship  means  and  involves ;  and  this  nar¬ 
rative,  like  so  many  other  first  things  in  the  Word  of 
God,  sets  the  key  to  all  teachings  on  the  same  subject 
that  follow. 

There  are  at  least  four  cardinal  ideas  necessary 
to  this  scriptural  portrait  of  stewardship. 

First  and  fundamental  is  that  of  an  entrustment. 
The  steward  of  God  is  not  an  owner,  but  a  trustee. 
The  goods  in  his  hand  were  originally,  and  continue 
to  be  inalienably  his  Master’s  goods. 

Then  follows,  naturally,  the  idea  of  investment, 
or  employment — the  goods  are  in  his  hand  to  be 
used,  invested,  employed  for  his  Master’s  service, 
not  as  in  a  bank,  to  be  kept,  however  safely,  but,  like 
current  coin,  put  into  circulation  for  good  uses  and 
increased  values. 

There  is  implied,  of  course,  an  additional  idea  of 
opportunity,  for  if  there  were  no  errand  and  com¬ 
mission  there  could  be  proper  use  of  the  goods :  and, 
in  this  case,  the  exact  way  to  discharge  the  trust  is 
made  known. 

The  other  necessary  idea  is  responsibility ;  the 
trustee  is  to  be  called  to  an  account  for  his  steward¬ 
ship. 

3-46 


The  Problem  of  Service. 


As  the  Word  of  God  is  studied,  it  reveals  certain 
other  minor  peculiarities  of  stewardship. 

Its  universality.  It  includes  all  men,  for  the  Mas¬ 
ter  of  all  commits  “to  every  man  his  work.” 
Whether  the  entrustments  be  equal,  as  in  the  dis¬ 
tribution  of  the  pounds,  or  unequal,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  talents,  no  one  of  all  the  servants  is  left  out  in 
the  distribution.  Again,  all  work  is  assigned.  No 
sphere  of  activity  is  left  unoccupied.  Again,  all 
ability  in  the  workers  is  fitted  with  its  corresponding 
activity — “to  every  man  according  to  his  several 
ability.”  The  entrustment  implies  enablement.  God 
calls  on  no  man  to  work  without  furnishing  the 
means.  But  all  things  belong  to  God. 

Stewardship  is  all  embracing  in  its  variety  and 
comprehensiveness.  Life  itself  is  an  entrustment — 
the  possession  of  vital  energy  allies  us  to  the  living 
One,  and  we  are  to  study  to  develop  and  direct  vital 
force,  that  first  and  most  solemn  of  all  entrustments. 
Then  the  powers  of  life — thought,  love,  will — are 
divine  entrustments.  Thought  is  the  life  of  the  in¬ 
tellect;  love,  the  life  of  the  heart;  choice,  the  life  of 
the  will.  Who  shall  measure  the  possibilities  of 
thinking,  loving,  choosing!  The  gift  of  speech  is 
of  vast  value.  It  distinguishes  man  above  all  ani¬ 
mals,  even  those  that  imitate  and  mimic  human  ut¬ 
terance.  Between  the  prattle  of  the  parrot  and  the 
language  of  a  thinker  the  gulf  is  almost  infinite. 
Speech  may  be  employed  for  God  in  a  measure  that 
only  eternity  can  reveal  or  infinity  measure.  Hobbes, 

347 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


therefore,  said  that  man  differs  from  other  animals, 
“rationale  et  orationale — -by  reason  and  speech.” 

Property — money  and  all  material  possessions — 
form  so  conspicuous  a  trust,  that  we  principally  but 
mistakenly  think  only  of  these  when  we  speak  of 
stewardship.  Our  worldly  calling,  trade  or  profes¬ 
sion,  the  scripture  teaches,  is  an  assignment  of  God 
(i  Cor.  vii:20-24).  It  is,  therefore,  not  a  human 
business  only,  but  a  divine  vocation;  in  the  work¬ 
shop,  every  tool  is  branded  with  the  name  of  God. 
Jesus  has  forever  made  the  carpenter  shop  as  sacred 
as  the  temple.  Our  whole  position  and  influence 
among  men  should  be  looked  upon  as  God-given, 
and  constituting  a  part  of  the  trust  committed  to  us. 

A  valuable  hint  is  found  in  the  word  “exchangers” 
(Matt,  xxv  127).  These  were  bankers,  parties  who 
studied  the  investment  of  money  as  a  science.  If  the 
steward  distrusted  his  own  ability  to  make  his  one 
talent  yield  profit,  and  feared  he  might  lose  the 
talent  itself,  as  well  as  all  gain  from  its  investment — 
there  were  others,  who  undertook  safely  and  profit¬ 
ably  to  invest,  and  he  might  have  employed  their  in¬ 
telligence  and  sagacity  in  lieu  of  his  own.  The  ex¬ 
changers-—  trapezitae — received  money  on  deposit 
and  paid  interest  for  its  use. 

Have  we  not  here  a  valuable  divine  suggestion  ? 
There  is  no  excuse  for  a  useless  life.  This  “unprofit¬ 
able”  servant  was  “wicked  and  slothful.”  His  plea 
of  fear  lest  he  should  lose  his  master’s  goods  was  a 
pretext,  and  out  of  his  own  mouth  he  is  convicted. 

348 


The  Problem  of  Service. 


His  master’s  argument  is  a  refutation  of  his  own 
plea,  which  his  own  conduct  shows  to  be  fictitious. 
Had  he  really  been  moved  to  bury  his  talent  by  a 
timid  apprehension  of  the  risk  of  trading  on  his  own 
account  like  his  fellow  servants,  there  was  another 
way  of  realizing  at  least  a  moderate  return  of  inter¬ 
est,  by  putting  out  the  talent  he  had  buried,  to 
usury,  in  the  hands  of  those  more  competent. 

Here  is  a  direct  lesson  on  the  duty  and  privilege  of 
helping  one  another.  More  timid  and  less  gifted 
people,  who  feel  themselves  unfitted  for  independent 
action  on  behalf  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  may  so 
associate  themselves  with  others,  wiser,  stronger, 
more  experienced  and  more  capable,  as  to  make 
their  abilitv  a  substitute  for  their  own.  There  are 
others  whom  God  has  lifted  to  responsible  positions 
of  authority  and  opportunity,  whose  counsel  and 
help  one  may  use  so  as  to  increase  his  own  useful¬ 
ness.  It  is  the  old  fable  illustrated,  of  the  blind 
man  carrying  the  lame  man — he  became  legs  to  the 
cripple  while  the  cripple  became  eyes  to  him — and 
thus  both  reached  the  goal  that  neither  could  reach 
alone. 

Bible  students  will  observe  that  there  are  three 
parables  which  turn  upon  the  same  general  pivot,  of 
a  divine  call  to  service  and  a  final  settlement  in 
wages  and  rewards:  the  parables  of  the  Talents ,  the 
Pounds,  and  the  Pence  (Matt,  xxv  114-30;  Luke 
xix :  1 2-27;  Matt.  xx:i-i6).  Only  by  taking  the 
three  together  do  we  learn  the  complete  lesson.  In 

349 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


the  first,  the  distribution  is  unequal,  but  the  im¬ 
provement,  equal,  and  the  reward,  the  same.  In  the 
second,  the  distribution  is  equal,  but  the  improve¬ 
ment  unequal,  and  the  rewards  proportionate.  In 
the  third,  the  opportunity  is  unequal,  but  the  readi¬ 
ness  to  make  it  available  even  when  it  comes  at  the 
eleventh  hour,  causes  the  compensation  to  be  the 
same  as  to  those  called  at  the  earlier  hours.  Thus 
the  parable  of  the  Talents  teaches  that  ability  dif¬ 
fers  ;  and  the  parable  of  the  Pence,  that  opportunity 
differs;  but  all  unite  in  the  lesson  that  these  differ¬ 
ences  are  of  God,  and  need  not  affect  the  final  result, 
if  whatever  our  measure  of  ability,  it  be  improved 
to  the  utmost;  and,  whatever  the  lateness  of  our 
opportunity,  it  be  promptly  and  diligently  used. 

We  are  not  to  compare  ourselves  with  others:  it 
is  unwise.  There  is  no  denying  the  fact  that  all  are 
not  alike  highly  endowed,  and  that  to  all  opportuni¬ 
ties  are  neither  equally  early  or  frequent;  but  all 
that  God  asks  is  that  whatever  He  gives  in  trust, 
though  but  one  talent,  shall  not  be  buried  in  useless¬ 
ness,  or  spent  in  wastefulness,  but  put  out  to  usury ; 
and  that  opportunity,  whatever  He  gives  and  when¬ 
ever  He  gives,  may  be  at  once  laid  hold  of,  even  at 
the  last  hour.  Then  He  will  see  that  we  suffer  no 
loss  in  the  final  award.  He  will  equally  approve 
all  who  are  equally  faithful.  “If  there  be  first  a 
willing  mind ,  it  is  accepted  according  to  that  a  man 
hath  and  not  according  to  that  he  hath  not”  (2  Cor. 

3So 


The  Problem  of  Service. 


viii:i2),  one  of  the  profoundest  principles  ever 
enunciated  as  to  service. 

How  immensely  important  these  suggestions  con¬ 
nected  with  stewardship!  All  we  have  is  God's, 
and  not  ours,  save  to  use  for  Him.  It  is  all  to  be 
invested  and  so  improved,  not  like  money  hoarded, 
even  though  not  lost,  but  like  coin  “current,”  run¬ 
ning  about  in  circulation,  and  gathering  increase  as 
it  runs.  If  one  lacks  ability  or  opportunity  for  wise 
and  safe  investment,  let  him  seek  advice,  and  by 
association  and  co-operation  with  those  who  are 
abler  and  wiser,  promote  his  own  usefulness.  Society 
is  organized  for  mutual  helpfulness ;  and  particularly 
in  the  church,  with  its  experienced  boards  and  com¬ 
mittees,  its  philanthropic  schemes  and  missionary 
societies,  even  the  poorest  and  humblest  believer  may 
find  channels  for  abundant  increase. 

No  man  need  lack  for  large  service  and  reward. 
The  prayerful  use  of  life  with  its  golden  hours ;  of 
powers  of  mind,  thought,  reason,  imagination,  mem¬ 
ory  ;  of  the  grand  weapon  of  influence,  the  tongue ; 
of  the  heart’s  rich  capacities  of  sympathy  and  unself¬ 
ish  affection :  who  shall  measure  these  possibilities ! 

Every  secular  calling  is  a  gift  from  God,  and  even 
a  workshop  may  become  like  the  shoeshop  of  John 
Pounds,  a  schoolmaster’s  college,  and  the  tools  of 
the  workman  the  tongues  of  witness.  If  only  our 
business  be  our  vocation — not  an  avocation,  calling 
us  away  from  our  true  service  to  God  and  man — we 
shall  find  that  we  have  been  in  partnership  with 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


God.  The  great  principle  is  to  be  an  outlet  as  well  as 
an  inlet;  to  get  in  order  to  give,  and  receive  to  im¬ 
part;  to  regard  everything  that  comes  to  us  as  from 
God,  to  flow  into  and  through  us,  leaving  blessing 
behind,  yet  carrying  blessing  beyond;  and  that  to 
cease  to  scatter  is  to  decrease  rather  than  increase, 
to  become  a  stagnant  pool  instead  of  a  living  foun¬ 
tain. 

III.  A  third  conspicuous  lesson  in  service  may 
be  found  in  the  Holy  place  of  the  Tabernacle  (Ex¬ 
odus  xxx:i-io;  xxxvii  ao-29;  Heb.  ix:2). 

To  this  we  have  referred  before,*  but  the  subject 
now  under  consideration  would  hardly  allow  an 
omission  of  a  further  mention  of  what  seems  di¬ 
vinely  meant  to  forecast  the  whole  possibilities  of 
Christian  service.  For  consider  that,  in  the  nature 
of  the  case,  there  are  only  three  ways  of  honoring 
God  and  serving  men;  first,  by  consecrating  all 
property  to  unselfish  purposes;  second,  by  witnes¬ 
sing  to  the  truth  and  to  Christ  by  anointed  lips  and 
a  transformed  life ;  and,  third,  by  praying  without 
ceasing  for  every  good  gift  for  ourselves  and  others. 
These  three  forms  of  service  are  all  inclusive;  out¬ 
side  of  the  spheres  they  embrace  and  the  possibili¬ 
ties  they  suggest,  there  are  no  other  ways  of  render¬ 
ing  service.  To  live  unto  God,  first  of  all,  so  that 
the  testimony  of  t.he  tongue  is  not  annulled  but 
enforced  by  that  of  the  temper,  and  character  and 


*See  Chapter  IV,  pp.  102,  103. 


352 


The  Problem  of  Service. 


conduct,  speaking  in  their  mute  but  mighty  manner 
of  the  God-life  within;  then  to  distribute  freely,  hum¬ 
bly,  conscientiously  and  constantly  of  all  God’s  en- 
trustments,  counting  all  as  His,  so  that  there  is  no 
room  either  for  pride  or  perversion  of  gifts ;  and  to 
crown  all  by  that  holy  prayer  life  that  learns  to 
prevail  with  men  by  prevailing  with  God,  and  to 
reach  the  greatest  results  on  earth,  by  way  of  inter¬ 
cession  at  the  throne  of  grace — surely  this  is  the 
perfect  ideal  of  service. 

It  would  be  a  coincidence,  far  more  marvellous,  if 
by  chance  than  if  by  design,  that  the  three  arti¬ 
cles  of  furniture  between  the  first  and  second  veils, 
so  singularly  suggest  exactly  these  three  comprehen¬ 
sive  forms  of  service :  the  Table  of  shewbread,  with 
its  supplies  weekly  renewed,  naturally  reminding  us 
of  the  duty  of  laying  by  in  store  on  the  first  day  of 
the  week,  for  all  the  purposes  of  benevolence,  ac¬ 
cording  as  God  hath  prospered  us ;  the  Golden  Lamp- 
stand,  with  its  seven  lights,  illustrating  the  fact  that 
we  are  the  light  of  the  world,  witnesses  to  compel 
others  to  believe;  and  the  golden  Incense  Altar, 
nearest  the  second  veil  and  the  mercy  seat,  standing 
so  obviously  for  that  closest  approach  to  the  Divine 
Presence  found  in  devout  communion  with  Him 
who  styles  Himself  the  Hearer  of  Prayer. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  lessons  in  service  is 
found  in  the  very  simplicity  of  it  all.  Here  is  noth¬ 
ing  impossible  or  inpracticable  to  the  most  ungifted 
and  unlettered.  A  child  can  understand  all  this 

353 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


and  do  it.  Yet  there  is  no  department  of  this  three¬ 
fold  service  that  is  not  shamefully  neglected. 

Giving  is  still  confined  to  the  few,  and  here  lies  a 
stupendous  mistake,  that  we  so  often  measure  by 
the  aggregate  sum  instead  of  the  proportionate  dis¬ 
tribution  of  the  offerings — by  the  amount  given  and 
not  by  the  number  giving  and  the  sacrifice  involved. 
We  forget  that  the  greatest  benefit  of  giving  is  felt 
in  the  giver  not  the  receiver,  and  hence  the  fewer 
the  givers  the  less  the  blessing.  God  and  His  poor 
may  have  need  of  our  bestowments,  but  not  half  as 
much  as  we,  of  bestowing. 

In  voltaic  or  galvanic  electricity  to  increase  the 
force  of  the  current  it  is  necessary  not  to  enlarge  the 
size  of  the  cells,  but  to  increase  their  number.  So, 
in  order  to  increase  the  power  of  gifts  in  God’s 
kingdom,  we  must  not  enlarge  the  individual  gifts 
so  much  as  increase  the  number  of  givers.  If  one 
man  could  and  would  give  everything  that  is  need¬ 
ful  for  missions,  it  would  be  the  greatest  possible 
evil  for  all  the  rest.  It  is  not  colossal  individual 
benefactions  that  are  needed  so  much  as  a  great 
aggregate  of  individual  gifts  that  are  small,  but 
which  blend  as  rills  to  form  a  great  river.  It  is  an 
awful  thing  indeed  when  people  lose  sight  of  the 
individual  responsibility  of  giving.  We  need  such 
giving,  as  makes  every  believer  a  constant  and  con¬ 
scientious  giver,  giving  in  proportion  as  God  pros¬ 
pers,  and  cheerfully:  giving  as  a  steward  of  God, 
who  does  not  regard  anything  as  his  own,  but  every- 


The  Problem  of  Service. 


thing  as  His,  and,  therefore,  pours  it  back  in  the  lap 
of  God,  as  having  first  come  from  God:  this  is  the 
giver  that  God  will  own. 

To  serve  effectively,  we  must  serve  intelligently. 
If  witnessing,  giving  and  praying  are  God’s  ap¬ 
pointed  forms  of  service,  surely  knowledge  must  fit 
for  all. 

These  are  days  when  there  is  an  attempt  to  pro¬ 
mote  intercession  for  missions,  and  one  finds  every¬ 
where  memoranda,  meant  to  stimulate  prayer.  But 
we  must  beware  of  making  our  helps  too  mechanical. 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  praying  that  effects  noth¬ 
ing  because  it  affects  the  suppliant  so  little.  Some 
of  our  supplications  are  so  general,  so  unsympathetic 
and  formal  that  even  the  mention  of  particular  fields 
or  workers  carries  no  real  effectiveness.  To  study 
the  wants  of  a  mission  station,  to  know  the  needs 
of  the  natives  and  the  exact  condition  of  the  work; 
to  keep  informed  of  the  progress  of  events,  and 
trace  the  history  of  the  Lord’s  dealings — to  put  one’s 
self  into  the  place  of  the  missionary — this  makes 
both  praying  and  giving  a  mighty  force  in  the  king¬ 
dom.  Then  to  abide  in  the  presence  of  God,  until 
even  knowledge  of  facts  is  saturated  with  passion 
for  souls,  until  the  burden  of  a  dying  world  rolls 
on  us  so  heavily  that  the  only  way  to  bear  it  is  to 
bear  it  with  Him  who  bore  it  up  to  the  cross — that 
is  to  find  a  whole  night  of  prayer,  a  rest,  and  a  re¬ 
lief.  Mr.  Finney  was  but  converted  when  he  began 
to  feel  this  load  upon  him,  and  he  spent  a  night  in 

355 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


pleading  with  God;  but  before  the  dawn  broke, 
there  was  another  dawn  within — he  had  a  vision  of 
God  and  a  revelation  that  his  prayer  had  prevailed. 

As  to  Proportionate  Giving,  Rev.  Joseph  Brown, 
D.  D.,  of  Glasgow,  says  that  men  who,  with  differ¬ 
ent  and  increasing  incomes,  continue  to  give  the 
same  amount — “bolt  over  simple  proportion  into 
vulgar  fractions/’ 

IV.  One  more  great  lesson  service  is  found  in 
the  Body  of  Christ  (Rom.  xii,  I  Cor.  xii,  Ephes.  iv, 
etc.). 

Here  all  disciples  are  incorporated  in  one  organ¬ 
ism,  Christ  being  the  Head,  and  every  one  members, 
one  of  another.  To  each  member  is  assigned  a 
sphere  and  a  work,  by  the  indwelling  Spirit,  for  the 
service  of  the  Body  generally. 

No  more  suggestive  metaphor  is  found  in  the 
Word  of  God.  A  few  of  its  many  lessons  may  be 
indicated : 

There  is  neither  room  nor  reason  for  an  unprofit¬ 
able  life,  for  God  has  provided  for  each  a  place  of 
service. 

There  are  many  members,  so  there  is  plenty  of 
work  for  all. 

All  have  not  the  same  office.  So  there  is  plenty 
of  scope  for  all  varieties  of  ability  and  adaptation. 

All  are  alike  necessary  though  not  alike  impor¬ 
tant  ;  so  that  none  can  afford  to  be  neglectful. 

All  are  mutually  dependent.  None,  therefore, 
can  work  alone,  but  in  co-operation  with  all  the  rest. 

356 


The  Problem  of  Service. 


All  are  assigned  to  their  respective  places  by  God, 
and  so  there  is  no  room  either  for  boasting,  envy  or 
discontent. 

All  receive  their  power  from  the  Head.  Hence 
none  need  despair  of  success  or  can  afford  to  be 
self-confident. 

All  are  united  to  the  one  Head.  Hence  all  share 
the  same  dignity,  honor  and  privilege. 

All  belong  to  one  body,  so  that  weakness  in  any 
one  is  supplemented  by  the  strength  of  others  and 
by  the  vital  force  that  pervades  the  whole. 

The  Providence  of  God  is,  in  our  day,  as  with 
special  trumpet  call,  summoning  the  whole  church 
to  service,  as  never  before.  No  period  in  all  history 
has  ever  presented  such  facilities  and  opportunities, 
and  we  may  add  invitations,  to  serve.  In  this 
respect  God  seems  to  have  exhausted  Himself. 

There  is  in  His  bestowments  a  regular  succession 
and  progression.  The  great  first  step,  after  the 
fall,  was  the  calling  out  of  an  elect  family  to  be 
conservators  of  the  truth.  Then  He  gave  His 
Word,  orally,  and,  later,  in  written  form,  till  the  Old 
Testament  was  complete.  Then  His  Son  came  to 
fulfil  and  exemplify  the  Word  and  guide  His  people. 
Last  of  all,  the  Holy  Spirit  was  given,  and  God’s 
last  gift  is  always  His  best,  for  it  includes  all  that 
went  before.  The  Spirit  illumines  the  Written 
Word,  magnifies  and  glorifies  Christ,  the  Living 
Word,  and,  beside  all  this,  regulates  and  sanctifies 
the  believer.  So  that  we  may  reverently  say  that 

357 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


God  has  exhausted  Himself.  He  has  added  the 
New  Testament  to  the  Old;  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  He  has  fulfilled  prophecy  and  founded 
Christian  history;  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  resident  in 
believers,  individually,  and  collectively,  throws  light 
on  the  Scriptures,  and  radiance  into  the  face  of 
Christ,  and  becomes  the  personal  guide  in  holy 
living.  What  could  even  God  do  more ! 

With  all  these  gifts,  He  has  in  the  most  wonderful 
way  thrown  open  the  whole  world  to  Christian  ef* 
fort.  All  nations  are,  as  never  hitherto,  an  open 
field  for  witness.  New  methods  of  transportation 
and  communication  have  made  the  world  a  neigh¬ 
borhood,  where  nobody  is  afar  off.  Modern  inven¬ 
tion  has  made  the  Bible  so  cheap  and  plentiful  that, 
at  trifling  cost,  it  may  be  scattered  everywhere,  and 
scholarship  has  already  made  it  available  in  five 
hundred  dialects.  Moreover,  within  about  eighty 
years  God  has  successively  called  out  His  reserves: 
first,  women,  as  such,  in  the  Zenana  work,  and  later 
in  organization  for  all  mission  enterprise ;  then 
young  men,  in  Christian  associations;  then  young 
women,  in  similar  associations;  then  young  people, 
as  a  whole,  in  Christian  endeavor,  student  volunteer 
and  like  societies.  He  has  no  reserves  left  but  the 
cradle  roll,  and  He  is  beginning  to  call  that  also. 
Surely  the  providential  summons  is  emphatically  to 
serve  in  a  new  and  peculiar  sense. 

V.  No  study  of  service  is  complete  that  leaves 
out  Reward,  and  in  nothing  is  Biblical  teaching 


The  Problem  of  Service. 


more  unique:  its  originality  and  sublimity  form  a 
new  argument  for  the  divine  authorship  of  the 
Scriptures.  In  all  the  literature  of  the  ages  there  is 
nothing  approaching  the  system  of  compensation 
unveiled  in  the  sacred  page.  We  can  only  sketch 
this  in  outline,  but  the  dominant  principles  which 
govern  God’s  administration  of  Rewards  should  be 
indicated. 

( i )  First,  it  is  not  the  sphere  but  the  spirit  which 
He  recognizes  and  rewards,  not  position  but  dispo¬ 
sition.  As  He  Himself  assigns  to  each  his  work 
as  He  will,  all  spheres  of  service  are  lifted  to  one 
common  plane  of  dignity;  and  all  He  asks  is  that 
we  shall  be  content,  wherever  He  puts  us,  and  hum¬ 
bly  do  His  will  in  whatever  sphere  or  at  whatever 
work.  Hence  those  words: 

“He  that  receiveth  you  receiveth  me,  and  he  that 
receiveth  me  receiveth  him  that  sent  me. 

“He  that  receiveth  a  prophet  in  the  name  of  a 
fprophet  shall  receive  a  prophet’s  reward;  and  he 
that  receiveth  a  righteous  man  in  the  name  of  a 
righteous  man  shall  receive  a  righteous  man’s  re¬ 
ward”  (Matt.  x:40,  41). 

The  Jews  thought  the  prophet  outranked  priest 
and  king,  because  as  Jehovah’s  mouthpiece,  he  in¬ 
structed  and  rebuked  both ;  and  as  his  office  was 
highest,  so  his  reward.  Yet  our  Lord  startles  His 
disciples  by  announcing  that  to  receive  a  prophet, 
in  his  capacity  as  such,  entitles  one  to  share  his 
reward,  because  to  help  to  make  the  prophet  abler 

359 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

to  do  his  work  is  to  take  part  indirectly  in  that 
work. 

Elijah  was  “received”  by  the  woman  of  Zarep- 
hath,  when  she  gave  him  her  last  handful  of  meal 
and  last  drops  of  oil;  and  she  received  a  prophet’s 
reward,  in  the  miraculous  increase  of  the  meal  in 
the  barrel  and  the  oil  in  the  cruse.  Elisha  was  “re¬ 
ceived”  by  the  woman  of  Shunem  into  the  little 
chamber  in  the  wall,  with  its  bed,  table  and  candle¬ 
stick.  She  also  found  the  oil  miraculously  increase ; 
and  both  these  women  who  ministered  to  the 
prophets  of  their  substance,  had  a  prophet’s  reward 
in  the  resurrection  power  which  wrought  in  their 
own  homes  and  upon  their  own  sons  (i  Kings 
xvii,  2  Kings  iv). 

(2)  Again,  rewards  depend  not  on  endowment 
but  improvement ;  not  on  how  much  property,  but 
how  much  profit.  It  is  not  of  importance  how  much 
we  have  but  how  much  use  we  make  of  what  we 
have,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  comparison  of  the  three 
parable  of  the  Talents,  the  Pounds,  and  the  Pence. 

(3)  God  regards  the  quality,  not  the  quantity, 
of  the  work  done;  not  how  much  but  how  well. 
Never  once  is  stress  laid  on  numbers .  Our  Lord 
was  as  ready  to  meet  one  man,  Nicodemus;  or  one 
outcast,  like  the  woman  at  the  well,  as  to  preach  to 
the  throngs ;  and  Philip  was  ready  to  leave  crowded 
Samaritan  villages  to  guide  one  inquirer  on  the 
desert  road.  The  poor  widow’s  two  mites  were 

360 


Tlie  Problem  of  Service. 


more  in  the  Lord’s  eyes  than  all  the  rich  sums  cast 
into  the  treasury,  because  of  the  spirit  behind  them. 

(4)  The  least  act,  done  for  Christ,  is  as  sure  of 
reward  as  the  greatest. 

‘‘Whosoever  shall  give  to  drink  unto  one  of  these 
little  ones  a  cup  of  cold  water  only  in  the  name  of  a 
disciple,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  he  shall  in  no  wise 
lose  his  reward”  (Matt.  X42). 

Perhaps  you  cannot  afford  to  give  the  cup ,  but 
you  can  give  what  is  in  it:  that  costs  you  nothing 
but  a  trip  to  the  spring  and  a  dip  in  its  waters.  But, 
as  the  altar  sanctifieth  the  gift,  the  purpose,  to  re¬ 
lieve  thirst,  makes  the  deed  noble. 

(5)  The  whole  performance  is  judged  by  the 
purpose. 

“If  there  be  first  a  willing  mind,  it  is  accepted, 
according  to  that  a  man  hath,  and  not  according  to 
that  he  hath  not.”  David  did  well,  that  it  was  in  his 
heart  to  build  a  house  for  God,  though  he  was  not 
permitted  to  build  it,  and  he  was  rewarded  as  if  he 
had  carried  out  his  heart’s  desire.  It  is  your  part 
to  desire  and  design,  but  it  is  God’s  part  to  deter¬ 
mine  how  far  you  are  to  fulfil  both.  But,  inasmuch 
as  He  sets  your  limitations,  He  rewards  your  inten¬ 
tions.  If  He  sees  that,  if  you  had  much  to  give  you 
would  give  it,  in  His  eyes  you  have  given  much.  If 
He  sees  that  you  would  do  much,  if  you  were  strong 
enough,  in  His  eyes  you  have  done  much. 

(6)  Hence  dependence  not  independence  pleases 
Him.  Men  are  proud  when  they  can  “take  the  ini- 

361 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


tiative,”  and  count  it  great  honor  to  be  able  to  lead. 
But  the  Lord  reserves  to  Himself  the  initiative,  and 
leaves  to  us  to  follow  His  lead.  We  are  too  prone 
to  plan  for  ourselves  instead  of  letting  Him  plan  for 
us.  Hence  the  energy  of  the  flesh  so  often  displaces 
the  energy  of  the  Spirit.  Hence  also  the  needless 
and  sinful  “worry”  even  “in  the  Lord’s  work.” 
Cannot  He  take  care  of  His  own  work?  If  “the 
eyes  of  the  servant  were  always  looking  unto  the 
hand  of  the  Master if  we  always  waited  for  His 
leading  and  depended  always  on  His  providing,  we 
should  cease  to  be  at  the  mercy  of  circumstances; 
and  rejoice  even  in  bonds  and  imprisonment,  like 
Paul  at  Philippi. 

(7)  Surrender  not  success  is  what  He  compen¬ 
sates.  Duty  is  ours,  results  are  His.  We  are  to 
“cast  our  seed  beside  all  waters,  knowing  not 
whether  this  or  that  shall  prosper,  or  whether  they 
both  shall  be  alike  good.”  Fidelity  cannot  ensure 
fertility,  but  it  will  assure  divine  approval.  What 
is  in  our  eyes  a  dismal  failure  may,  in  His,  be  a  glo¬ 
rious  success.  Stephen  purposed  preaching  and  got 
stoning,  but  he  died  in  unspeakable  peace  and  his 
death  gave  the  church  its  greatest  apostle.  No 
steward  is  required  to  be  successful,  but  only  faith¬ 
ful.  Patient  suffering  is  as  much  rewarded  as  ac¬ 
tive  serving. 

(8)  But,  most  astounding  of  all,  to  be  one  with 
Christ  in  serving  entitles  us  to  be  one  with  Him  in 
reigning . 


The  Problem  of  Service. 


"If  any  man  serve  me,  let  him  follow  me;  and 
where  I  am,  there  shall  also  my  servant  be:  if  any 
man  serve  me,  him  will  my  Father  honor”  (John 
xii  126). 

From  the  footstool  to  the  throne!  from  slave's 
apron  to  king's  robe !  Where  before,  in  any  scheme 
of  religion,  have  the  humblest  servants  been  raised 
to  the  seat  of  sovereignty ! 

Not  outward  sphere  but  inward  heart; 

The  Love  wherewith  we  do  our  part. 

Not  how  large  gifts  we  hold  in  trust, 

But  how  far  used,  or  left  to  rust; 

Not  how  much  done  but  how  well  done. 
Faithful  to  many  souls,  or  one: 

Seeking  the  Master’s  will  to  find. 

And  lean  on  Him,  with  peace  of  mind; 
Content  to  fail,  in  human  eyes, 

His  smile,  the  one  reward  we  prize  ; 

In  any  sphere  serve  Him  alone, 

Till  cross  is  left  for  crown  and  throne. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
The  Problem  of  Suffering 

Five  texts  suffice  to  indicate  the  lines  of  Biblical' 
teaching : 

“By  one  man  Sin  entered  into  the  world,  and 
Death  by  Sin”  (Rom.  v:i2). 

“Receiving  in  themselves  that  recompense  of  their 
error  which  was  meet”  (Rom.  L27). 

“Whom  the  Lord  loveth  He  chasteneth,  and 
scourgeth  every  son  whom  He  receiveth”  (Hebrews 
xii  :6) . 

“We  glory  in  tribulations  also:  knowing  that 
tribulation  worketh  patience;  and  patience,  expe¬ 
rience;  and  experience,  hope”  (Rom.  v:3). 

“Choosing  rather  to  suffer  affliction  with  the 
people  of  God,  than  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin 
for  a  season”  (Hebrews  xi:25). 

“Unto  you  it  is  given  ...  to  suffer  for  His 
sake”  (Philip,  i  :2g). 

Next  to  Sin,  Suffering  is  the  most  inexplicable 
enigma,  and  its  mystery  is  threefold: 

First,  millions  suffer,  not  in  consequence  of  their 
own  sins,  but  of  those  of  others  before  them;  mil¬ 
lions  more  are  victims  of  a  depraved,  perverted  so¬ 
cial  system  which  they  did  not  frame  but  cannot 
escape;  and  in  many  cases,  whole  nations  suffer 

364 


The  Problem  of  Suffering. 


from  the  temporary  triumph  of  might  over  right, 
kept  in  bondage  under  systematic  tyranny. 

Again,  a  vast  amount  of  suffering  seems  out  of  all 
proportion  to  individual  sins  or  needs.  There  is 
apparent  lack  of  equitable  apportionment  and  ad¬ 
ministration.  Sometimes  the  victim’s  whole  life  is 
one  of  torture  and  often  calamity  is  age-long,  pro¬ 
longed  through  generations,  without  either  relief 
or  hope. 

Worse  than  all  is  the  apparent  silence  and  indif¬ 
ference  of  God.  No  merciful  judge  seems  to  ad¬ 
minister  the  moral  universe;  or,  if  there  be  a  god, 
He  acts  as  one  who  neither  knows  nor  cares,  either 
unable  or  indisposed  to  interpose. 

Those  who  have  had  no  help  from  divine  revela¬ 
tion  in  solving  this  problem  have  come  at  best  to  one 
of  three  conclusions :  Atheism,  Fatalism,  or  Dual¬ 
ism. 

The  Atheist  says  there  is  no  god;  that  men  are 
tossed  to  and  fro  by  blind  chance;  that  there  is 
neither  moral  order  nor  moral  government,  nor  any 
Personality,  behind  the  universe.  The  Fatalist  con¬ 
ceives  God,  as,  like  himself,  held  in  the  grip  of  an 
inexorable  Necessity;  unable  to  interpose  to  save  or 
help,  because  Himself  but  part  of  a  universal  ma¬ 
chine,  absolutely  soulless,  and  moving  with  mechani¬ 
cal  regularity  and  uniformity;  so  that  whether  one 
is  crushed  or  exalted  by  it,  there  is  no  Sovereign 
power  to  determine.  The  Dualist  recognizes  in  the 
universe  two  opposing  forces — one  benignant,  the 

365 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


other,  malignant;  one  that  seeks  human  welfare, 
and  another  that  delights  in  man’s  misery,  it  being 
always  uncertain  which  will  have  the  ascendancy. 

From  all  merely  human  theories,  we  turn  to  see  if 
there  is  no  clear  light  upon  this  inscrutable  mystery 
in  the  Word  of  God ;  and  we  find  here  a  unique  solu¬ 
tion  of  the  whole  problem,  which  puts  to  shame  the 
wisest  system  of  human  philosophy. 

It  is  of  primary  importance,  in  studying  this 
problem,  to  draw  some  clear  lines  of  discrimination 
as  to  the  different  kinds  of  suffering  for  the  term  is 
very  comprehensive. 

There  are  six  sorts  of  experiences  all  falling 
under  this  general  term,  and  which  are  worthy  of 
a  more  extended  study  than  can  here  be  given  to 
them: 

I.  Organic  and  Hereditary  (Jeremiah  xxxi:29, 
Ezek.  xviii:2,  Exod.  xx:5,  Rom.  v:i2). 

II.  Penal  and  Judicial,  a  form  of  retribution 
(Jerem.  xxxi:30,  Ezek.  xviii:4,  Numb,  xxxii  123, 
Prov.  v  122-24). 

III.  Corrective  and  Reformatory,  meant  to  re¬ 
store  to  righteousness.  This  is  Paternal  (Heb.  xii: 
5-13,  1  Cor.  v:s,  xi:3i). 

IV.  Disciplinary  and  Educative,  preparatory  for 
greater  sanctity  and  service  (Hebrews  v:8,  2  Cor. 
iv:i7,  18,  2  Cor.  xii:i-io,  1  Peter  ii  119,  iv:i3). 

V.  Permissive  and  Vindicative,  designed  for  the 
vindication  both  of  God  and  saints  (Job  i,  ii,  Psalm 
xxxiv:  17-22,  xxxv  117-28). 

366 


The  Problem  of  Suffering. 

VI.  Voluntary  and  Vicarious — one  of  the  great 
laws  of  the  kingdom  (2  Corinth,  i  15-9,  Col.  i:24, 
Philip,  iiino). 

To  discriminate  between  these  is  necessary,  that 
we  may  know  both  the  source  of  suffering  and  its 
object;  and  what  should  be  our  attitude  toward  it, 
whether  to  accept  it  as  inevitable  or  recognize  it  as 
avoidable;  whether  as  inflicted  in  judgment  or 
mercy,  to  be  patiently  borne  or  penitently  got  rid  of ; 
whether  it  is  a  penalty  from  a  Judge,  a  preparation 
for  higher  blessing  from  a  Father,  or  a  privilege  to 
be  welcomed  as  part  in  the  larger  scheme  of  pro¬ 
moting  the  glory  of  God  in  the  final  triumph  of 
Righteousness. 

I.  First,  there  is  suffering  which  is  organic  and 
hereditary .  It  is  due  to  organic  connection  with  the 
race,  not  only  to  immediate  but  remote  ancestry, 
much  of  it  traceable  as  far  back  as  Adam,  in  whom 
we  all  died,  so  that  “death  reigned  even  over  them 
that  had  not  sinned  after  the  similitude  of  Adam’s 
transgression”  (Rom.  v:i4). 

God  has  solemnly  said  that  He  “visits  the  iniquity 
of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and 
fourth  generation”  (Exodus  xx:s,  6).  The  Leprosy 
of  Naaman  was  judically  inflicted  upon  him  and  his 
children  (2  Kings  v).  This  hereditary  suffering  is 
an  unquestionable  fact.  Organic  penalties  follow 
violations  of  organic  law,  and  affect  all  who  are  in 
the  social  organism.  Somebody  does  wrong;  and 
the  effects  individuals  have  to  endure,  in  body  and 

367 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


mind,  because  of  their  connection  with  the  race. 
“In  Adam  all  die.”  We  may  dispute  that  statement, 
theologically,  but  it  is  one  of  the  most  patent  facts. 
No  man  can  transmit  to  his  posterity  any  better  con¬ 
ditions  than  his  own.  When  our  first  father  sinned 
and  fell  from  his  high  estate  he  broke  up  the  sym¬ 
metry  of  his  being,  and  contracted  the  taint  of  sin; 
he  lost  communion  with  God  and  the  capacity  for 
fellowship  with  all  holy  beings.  It  was  inevitable 
that  his  children  should  inherit  his  moral  likeness; 
and,  though  they  had  not  sinned  after  the  similitude 
of  his  transgression,  they  could  not  escape  the  con¬ 
sequences  of  his  fall.  It  entailed  not  only  suffering 
but  the  taint  and  tendency  of  a  sinful  nature.  What¬ 
ever  be  our  philosophy,  the  facts  are  obvious  and 
indisputable. 

To  see  the  proofs,  on  a  terrible  scale,  one  has 
only  to  visit  the  slums  of  great  cities,  such  as  were 
once  found  in  the  “Five  Points”  at  New  York,  and 
the  “Seven  Dials”  in  London,  where,  before  the 
sanitary  broom  had  swept  away  the  social  filth, 
might  have  been  seen  the  awful  relics  of  generations 
of  sin  and  crime.  Fifty  years  ago,  scores  of  adults 
and  little  children  were  there,  whose  bodies  were 
marked  and  marred  with  the  features  of  vice,  de¬ 
formed  and  crippled,  whose  aptitude  for  drink  and 
propensity  to  crime  were  inborn,  to  whom  life  was 
one  long  drawn  out  curse.  But  the  most  respectable 
of  us  all  inherit  evils  for  which  we  are  not  personal¬ 
ly  responsible. 


368 


The  Problem  of  Suffering. 


What  is  to  be  our  attitude  toward  such  organic 
and  hereditary  suffering?  We  must,  of  course,  sub¬ 
mit,  for  it  cannot  be  helped.  It  is  part  of  the  pen¬ 
alty  of  being  born  into  this  world,  and  being  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  body  politic,  where,  if  one  member  suf¬ 
fers,  all  the  members  suffer  with  it.  There  is  an 
organic  bond  between  parent  and  child,  and  the  off¬ 
spring  reap  the  harvest  of  the  sins  of  not  only  the 
immediate  parents  but  of  the  more  remote  ances¬ 
tors. 

There  is  a  tendency  to  complain  of  this  organic 
law;  to  find  fault  with  the  Creator,  because  “the 
fathers  have  eaten  sour  grapes  and  the  children’s 
teeth  are  set  on  edge,”  as  Jeremiah  recorded  long 
ago  as  heard  by  him.  God  has  been  arraigned  as 
unjust,  because  parental  transgressions  have  trans¬ 
mitted  to  their  children  abnormal  tendencies  and 
aptitudes,  like  the  fabled  eagle  that  in  stealing  the 
sacrificial  victim  from  an  altar,  bore  with  it  a  live 
coal  that  set  fire  to  its  nest  and  burned  up  its  young. 
But  such  complaints  have  found  an  answer  in  the 
arguments  of  an  infidel  scientist,  who,  from  the 
scientific  point  of  view,  vindicates  this  law  of  Na¬ 
ture,  as  just  and  wise  and  good,  on  the  whole,  not¬ 
withstanding  the  incidental  suffering  it  often  causes. 
The  design  of  his  fable  is  to  shew  that  we  cannot 
have  a  law  in  operation  for  good,  which  may  not 
become  a  source  of  suffering  when  perverted . 

He  represents  a  young  man  as  complaining  to  Ju¬ 
piter  that  in  consequence  of  his  father’s  debaucher- 

369 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


ies  he  is  pierced  with  severe  pangs  and  is  unjustly 
punished  for  sins  not  his  own. 

Jupiter  replies  that,  in  accordance  with  the  very 
law  of  which  he  complains,  he  has  also  received 
from  his  father  delicate  nerves  and  vigorous  mus¬ 
cles,  senses  which  are  inlets  of  joy  and  many  noble 
capacities  and  faculties  of  mind  and  heart.  Jupiter 
offers,  in  his  case,  to  suspend  the  offensive  organic 
law ,  but  warns  the  young  man  that,  in  losing  his 
pain  he  shall  lose  all  advantages  and  blessings  com¬ 
ing  to  him  through  the  same  law  of  hereditary  de¬ 
scent,  and  he  further  reminds  him  that  even  his 
pain  is  a  messenger  of  mercy,  a  monitor  to  warn 
him  from  the  vicious  paths  trodden  by  his  father. 
The  sufferer  withdrew  his  complaint,  resigned  him¬ 
self  to  his  suffering,  grateful  in  view  of  the  many 
blessings  which  had  likewise  come  down  to  him  in 
consequence  of  his  parent’s  better  qualities  and  re¬ 
solved  to  be  himself  obedient.* 

The  fable  teaches  a  plain  lesson.  The  same  law 
which  works  evil,  when  perverted,  works  good, 
when  obeyed.  For,  while  God  threatens  to  visit  to 
the  third  and  fourth  generation  the  iniquities  of  the 
fathers  upon  the  children,  in  accordance  with  the 
same  method  or  law  of  dealing ,  He  promises  to 
“show  mercy  unto  thousands  of  generations  of  them 
that  love  Him  and  keep  His  commandments.”  While 
the  consequences  of  disobedience  thus  reach  to  the 

*Combe,  on  the  Constitution  of  Man. 

370 


The  Problem  of  Suffering. 


fourth  generation,  the  rewards  of  obedience  reach 
to  the  remotest  time.  And,  so,  however  awful  the 
penalties  of  evildoing,  the  blessed  results  and  re¬ 
wards  of  welldoing  are  even  greater. 

The  Creator  originally  meant  and  adapted  heredi¬ 
ty  as  a  channel  of  blessing;  sin  turned  it,  in  part, 
into  a  channel  of  cursing;  but  He  is  not  to  blame 
for  its  perversion.  Nor  has  the  law  ceased  to  have 
its  beneficent  side.  It  acts  as  a  sentinel,  warning 
against  similar  violation  or  neglect  of  organic  law. 
Temperate  and  virtuous  habits  of  life  may  not  only 
convey  blessing  to  those  after  us,  but  relieve,  if  not 
remove,  the  hereditary  evils  from  which  we  suffer, 
promoting  health  and  happiness.  We  may  thus  be 
stimulated  to  such  a  pure  and  upright  life  as  may 
help  future  generations  to  rise  to  a  loftier  level. 

II.  A  second  department  of  suffering  is  Judicial 
and  Penal — a  visitation  of  retributive  penalty  upon 
the  evildoer  himself.  It  is  due  to  the  demand  of 
a  righteous  Law  and  an  inflexibly  just  Judge.  It 
marks  the  perfection  of  God’s  government  that  no 
evildoer  escapes.  “Every  transgression  and  diso¬ 
bedience  receives  a  just  recompense  of  reward” 
(Heb.  ii:2).  God  Himself  would  become  a  partner 
in  sin  were  it  otherwise. 

The  Bible  teaches  us  that  there  are  three  or  four 
qualifications,  which  modify  the  working  of  this 
Law. 

i.  Judgment  covers  two  realms,  Here  and  Here¬ 
after.  The  scope  of  retributive  and  penal  suffering 

37i 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

extends  both  over  time  and  eternity.  The  Great 
White  Throne  is  beyond  this  world.  There  is  con¬ 
stant  working  of  retribution  even  here,  but  it  is 
designedly  incomplete,  because  this  life  is  probation¬ 
ary ,  and  affords  opportunity  for  repentance  and  ref¬ 
ormation,  and  all  sinners  here  are  under  suspended 
sentence  for  the  time;  and,  because  perfect  adjust¬ 
ments  of  both  reward  and  penalty  are  not  possible 
here,  there  is  a  larger  plan  of  God’s  Providence  that 
finds  its  outworking  in  Eternity.  Should  every 
transgression  at  once  be  visited  with  penalty,  all 
probation  would  cease  with  the  first  voluntary  sin, 
and  the  world  would  be  depopulated  by  God’s  judg¬ 
ments. 

2.  A  perfect  adjustment  is  impossible,  in  this 
world,  because  of  incompleteness ;  much  of  man’s 
evil  doing  goes  on  to  the  very  end;  and  there  can 
be  no  proper  compensation  or  recompense  for  either 
right  or  wrong  until  both  are  complete.  Acts  must 
be  committed  before  they  can  be  compensated,  and 
the  larger  plans  of  retribution  must  take  in  the  life 
beyond. 

3.  God’s  administration  also  recognizes  in  deal¬ 
ing  with  man  the  principle  of  substitution.  Grace 
has  provided  a  voluntary  and  vicarious  substitute 
for  human  offenders — a  marvellous  scheme  of  Love, 
whereby  a  broken  law  shall  be  vindicated  and  all 
the  great  ends  of  the  divine  government  answered, 
without  the  visitation  of  penalty  upon  the  sinner 
himself.  Meanwhile,  judgment  is  suspended  until 

372 


The  Problem  of  Suffering. 


it  is  seen  how  the  transgressor  will  treat  the  proffer 
of  salvation;  whether  he  will  accept  or  reject  the 
offer  of  amnesty.  But,  either  in  himself  or  his 
Substitute,  the  equivalent  price  of  sin  must  be  paid 
(John  xi  149-52) .  Obviously,  much  penal  suffering 
is  avoidable.  “Sin  no  more,  lest  a  worse  thing  come 
upon  thee.” 

4.  There  is  a  further  modification  of  this  law, 
that  it  must  be  so  administered  that  even  mercy 
shall  not  imperil  justice.  A  forgiven  sinner  some¬ 
times  has  to  suffer  in  part  the  judicial  penalty  for 
Tiis  sin,  lest  indiscriminate  laxity  set  a  premium  up¬ 
on  transgression.  Eternal  penalties  are  abolished, 
while  temporal  penalties  remain.  After  David’s  con¬ 
fession  of  his  great  sin,  Nathan,  the  prophet,  said, 
'‘The  Lord  also  hath  put  away  thy  sin ;  thou  shalt 
not  die.  Nevertheless,  because,  by  this  deed  thou 
hast  given  occasion  to  the  enemies  of  the  Lord  to 
blaspheme  the  child  that  is  born  to  thee  shall  surely 
die”  (2  Sam.  xii:i4).  And  a  further  penalty  was 
visitH  upon  this  public  crime,  in  permitting  the 
king’s  own  son  to  commit  a  worse  crime  with  his 
own  father’s  concubines,  and  in  a  public  manner. 
Even  divine  forgiveness,  while  sparing  David  final 
condemnation,  taught  all  men  that  He  who  merci¬ 
fully  deals  with  sinners,  is  none  the  less  a  just  and 
righteous  Judge. 

Our  attitude  toward  such  sufferings  is  to  be  one  of 
glorying  in  the  perfection  of  the  divine  administra¬ 
tion.  If,  because  of  such  perfection,  I  myself  suffer, 

373 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


I  must  lose  sight  of  my  own  discomfort  in  the  larg¬ 
er  interests  of  the  moral  universe;  while  I  am  lost 
in  the  infinite  grace  that  provides  for  the  entire 
abolition  of  eternal  judgment  in  my  behalf  because 
of  my  faith  in  the  Lamb  of  God,  who  beareth  away 
the  sins  of  the  world.  Surely  it  is  more  than  a  relief 
to  the  dark  shadows  of  retributive  penalty  that  grace 
has  planned  such  a  scheme  of  mercy,  as  that  God 
can  be  just  and  yet  justify  the  believing  sinner.  The 
ends  of  punishment  are  all  met  in  the  sacrifice  of 
Calvary ;  God’s  Law  is  upheld,  His  government  vin¬ 
dicated,  His  own  character  exhibited  as  abhorring 
sin,  transgressors  themselves  reformed,  and  it  may 
be  that  others  are  prevented  from  similar  sins,  in 
Other  spheres  of  the  universe. 

III.  Yet  other  suffering  is  purely  paternal ,  disci¬ 
plinary,  corrective .  It  is  meant  to  remedy  our  faults 
by  measures  as  mild  as  possible.  It  is  a  sign  not  of 
God’s  holy  displeasure,  but  of  His  love.  “Whom 
the  Lord  loveth  He  correcteth”  (Heb.  xii). 

There  are  two  applications  of  this  method:  first, 
to  sinners  to  bring  them  to  repentance,  and  second, 
to  saints,  to  refine,  purify  and  sanctify.  So  long  as 
there  is  hope  of  transgressors,  mercy  stays  judg¬ 
ment,  and  the  Lord  chastens  them  in  His  long  suf¬ 
fering,  to  lead  to  true  repentance  and  newness  of 
life ;  then,  when  by  faith  they  become  His  children, 
He  still  follows  them  with  the  rod  of  correction  to 
make  possible  greater  attainments  in  holiness  and 
Usefulness. 


374 


The  Problem  of  Suffering. 


Such  disciplinary  suffering  it  would  be  disastrous 
to  escape  or  avoid,  except  by  that  constant  self- 
scrunity  that  corrects  also  the  faults  and  follies  God 
would  remove.  Hence,  “if  we  would  judge  our¬ 
selves,  we  should  not  be  judged.  But  when  we  are 
judged,  we  are  chastened  of  the  Lord,  that  we 
should  not  be  condemned  with  the  world”  (i  Cor. 
xi:3i,  32).  Here  a  principle  of  great  importance  is 
enunciated:  that  there  is  a  conscientious  self- judg¬ 
ment  which  makes  much  divine  chastening  unneces¬ 
sary.  But,  in  some  cases,  results  are  so  precious 
that,  without  suffering,  they  are  unattainable,  as 
only  fire  can  remove  dross  from  silver  and  gold. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  by  a  disastrous  conflagra¬ 
tion  in  the  Pyrenees,  that  destroyed  vineyards  and 
threatened  the  people  with  dire  distress,  rich  veins 
of  silver  were  disclosed  which  more  than  compen¬ 
sated  for  all  the  loss.  Many  a  seeming  disaster  to 
a  child  of  God  proves  the  disclosure  of  new  veins 
of  experience  and  fellowship  with  God.  Sorrowing 
saints  discovering  these  mines  of  consolation  and 
compensation  in  God,  have  learned  to  comfort  oth¬ 
ers  with  the  comfort  wherewith  they  have  been 
comforted  of  God;  and  such  deep  experience  has 
been  the  means  of  enriching  others  far  beyond  all 
that  could  have  been  imagined. 

“Our  God  is  a  consuming  fire.”  But  while  sin¬ 
ners  have  reason  to  fear  this  consuming  fire  as  one 
of  judgment,  the  saint  rejoices  that  the  same  Fire 
burns  up  what  he  desires  to  be  rid  of  forever.  We 

375 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


all  learn  in  the  trials  of  housecleaning  that  some 
accumulations  of  rubbish  are  never  finally  disposed 
of  till  they  are  consigned  to  the  flames — the  broom 
only  sweeps  them  into  some  corner  to  be  scattered 
again,  and  nothing  but  the  fire  will  finally  get  them 
out  of  the  way — so  there  is  rubbish  in  our  lives  that 
only  the  consuming  fire  of  God  can  remove.  True 
heart  cleanness  is  a  costly  product,  and  blessed  be 
he  who  cheerfully  submits  to  the  divine  discipline, 
leaving  himself  in  the  hands  of  a  faithful  Father. 

IV.  This  prepares  us  to  consider  a  fourth  form 
of  suffering,  close  akin,  but  on  a  little  higher  plane : 
that  which  is  preparatory  and  educative — which  fits 
for  closer  fellowship  with  God,  revelation  of  God, 
or  service  for  God.  Some  experiences  of  suffering 
are  times  of  spiritual  uplifting,  like  the  dawn  after 
a  dark  night  of  unbelief.  It  is  a  fine  saying  of  Presi¬ 
dent  Patton,  that  “as  the  night  grows  darker  the 
stars  of  prophecy  come  out.” 

Our  Father  who  seeks  to  perfect  His  saints  in  ho¬ 
liness  knows  the  value  of  the  refiner’s  fire.  It  is 
with  the  most  precious  metals  that  the  assayer  takes 
most  pains,  and  subjects  them  to  hot  fires,  because 
only  such  fires  melt  the  metal,  and  only  molten  met¬ 
al  releases  its  alloy,  or  takes  perfectly  its  new  form 
in  the  mould.  The  old  refiner  never  left  his  cru¬ 
cible,  but  sat  down  by  it,  lest  there  should  be  one 
excessive  degree  of  heat  to  mar  the  metal,  and  so 
soon  as,  skimming  from  the  surface  the  last  of  the 

376 


The  Problem  of  Suffering. 

dross  he  saw  his  own  face  reflected,  he  put  out  the 
fire. 

How  beautifully  are  we  told  that  the  Redeemer 
“shall  sit  as  a  Refiner  and  purifier  of  silver”  (Mai. 
iii  :3 ) .  Being  determined  to  perfect  His  saints,  He 
puts  His  precious  Metal  into  His  crucible.  But  He 
sits  by  it,  and  watches  it.  Love  is  His  thermometer, 
and  marks  the  exact  degree  of  heat;  not  one  in¬ 
stant’s  unnecessary  pang  will  He  permit;  and  as 
soon  as  the  dross  is  released  so  that  He  sees  Himself 
reflected  the  trial  ceases. 

To  be  specific,  God’s  object  is  not  only  to  remove 
alloy,  but  to  develop  all  the  possibilities  of  the  prec¬ 
ious  metal  of  character.  There  are  three  graces 
that  outrank  all  others  in  Christian  attainment: 
Patience,  Humility,  and  unselfishness  or  Love,  all 
of  which  depend  for  development  on  suffering. 

Obviously,  Patience  is  the  direct  fruit  of  trial,  for 
it  is  the  faculty  to  endure,  and  there  must  be  some¬ 
thing  to  be  endured.  How  can  we  suffer  patiently 
if  we  do  not  suffer  at  all?  Patience  is  the  night¬ 
blooming  cereus  in  the  Lord’s  garden,  the  flower 
that  comes  to  fulness  of  bloom  in  adversity,  and  the 
greater  the  trial  the  more  signal  the  beauty. 

Humility,  the  lowly  grace,  generally  implies  an 
experience  that  brings  down  pride  and  self-sufficien¬ 
cy  to  the  dust.  With  man,  it  is  commonly  born  of 
defeat  and  disappointment.  He  naturally  likes  to 
strut  like  a  peacock,  displaying  his  feathers,  and 
imagining  that  he  has  something  to  boast  of;  and 

377 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


the  great  majority  learn  to  be  humble  only  by  being 
first  humbled.  When  the  collapse  of  our  own  plans, 
the  defeat  of  our  schemes,  the  loss  of  our  self-confi¬ 
dence,  brings  us  prostrate,  in  our  true  attitude  be¬ 
fore  God,  we  learn  humility. 

A  merchant  prince  has  said  that  the  greatest  qual¬ 
ity  in  a  successful  merchant  is  “to  know  how  to  rec¬ 
ognize  his  losses  and  deal  with  them and  few  at¬ 
tainments  are  of  more  value  in  a  disciple  than  to 
find  his  own  limitations  and  organize  success  out  of 
defeat  and  failure.  Only  when  we  have  got  to  the 
end  of  self  have  we  got  to  the  beginning  of  God ! 
Human  biographies  generally  magnify  a  man’s  suc¬ 
cesses,  but  when  God  writes  biographies  in  scrip¬ 
ture  He  shows  how  His  saints  have  learned  quite 
as  much  from  their  failures,  as  in  the  case  of  Job. 
Praise  feeds  pride,  while  rebuke  helps  to  humility, 
and  suffering  is  usually  the  precursor  of  a  humble 
spirit. 

As  to  unselfish  Love,  whoever  learned  that  les¬ 
son  without  trial!  Whoever  yearned  over  others 
without  having  passed  through  sorrow !  It  is  in  the 
furnace  of  tribulation,  where  self  is  consumed,  that 
we  learn  how  to  sympathize  with  the  tribulations 
of  others.  Poverty  teaches  us  to  relieve  the  poor ; 
bereavement  prepares  us  to  console  the  bereaved, 
and  self-loss  is  the  very  seed  of  an  unselfish  har- 
vest. 

Even  the  great  Captain  of  our  Salvation  was 
made  “perfect  through  suffering,”  and  “learned  obe- 

378 


The  Problem  of  Suffering. 


dience  by  the  things  which  He  suffered.”  If  even 
He,  the  Perfect  Man,  reached  His  complete  equip¬ 
ment  for  His  work  of  leadership  through  a  soldier’s 
endurance  of  hardship,  his  followers  should  not  be 
reluctant  to  undergo  a  similar  training  if  they  aspire 
to  approximate,  in  any  measure,  a  like  result. 

The  Rev.  Howard  W.  Pope  tells  the  story  of  a 
Christian  blacksmith  who  had  a  good  deal  of  afflic¬ 
tion,  and  being  challenged  by  an  unbeliever  to  ac¬ 
count  for  it,  gave  this  as  his  explanation :  “I  don’t 
know  that  I  can  account  for  these  things  to  your 
satisfaction,  but  I  think  I  can  to  my  own.  I  am  a 
blacksmith.  I  often  take  a  piece  of  iron,  and  put 
it  into  the  fire  and  bring  it  to  white  heat.  Then  I 
put  it  on  the  anvil  and  strike  it  once  or  twice  to  see 
if  it  will  take  a  temper.  If  I  think  it  will,  I  plunge 
it  into  the  water  and  suddenly  change  the  tempera¬ 
ture.  Then  I  put  it  into  the  fire  again,  and  again  I 
plunge  it  into  the  water.  This  I  repeat  several 
times.  Then  I  put  it  on  the  anvil  and  hammer  it, 
and  bend  it,  and  rasp  and  file  it,  and  it  makes  some 
useful  article  which  I  put  into  a  carriage,  where  it 
will  do  good  service  for  twenty-five  years.  If,  how¬ 
ever,  when  I  first  strike  it  on  the  anvil,  I  think  it 
will  not  take  a  temper,  I  throw  it  into  the  scrap 
heap  and  sell  it  at  a  halfpenny  a  pound. 

“I  believe  that  my  Heavenly  Father  has  been 
testing  me  to  see  if  I  will  take  a  temper.  He  has 
put  me  into  the  fire,  and  into  the  water.  I  have 
tried  to  bear  it  as  patiently  as  I  could,  and  my  daily 

379 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


prayer  has  been:  ‘Lord,  put  me  into  the  fire  if  you 
will;  put  me  into  the  water  if  you  think  I  need  it; 
do  anything  you  please,  O  Lord ;  only,  for  Christ’s 
sake,  don’t  throw  me  into  the  scrap  heap !’  ” 

God  puts  so  high  a  value  upon  “the  riches  of  the 
glory  of  His  inheritance  in  the  saints”  that,  in  or¬ 
der  to  perfect  that  inheritance,  he  subjects  His 
saints  to  sorrow  and  suffering  as  a  proprietor  plows 
up  his  land  and  pulls  down  his  homestead,  that  he 
may  beautify  the  estate,  which  is  his  inheritance. 

Suffering  is  not  always  a  penalty ,  either  judicial 
or  organic.  It  often  has  for  its  end  the  purifying, 
beautifying  and  glorifying  of  character.  Every 
form  of  figure  is  used  in  Holy  Scripture  to  set  forth 
this  divine  idea  of  sorrow,  and  yet  we  are  such  half¬ 
pagans  that  we  think  of  suffering,  practically,  as 
though  it  were  an  expression  of  divine  anger  and 
not  love. 

What  a  solace  would  God’s  sorrowing  saints 
pluck  from  the  very  boughs  of  trial  could  they  but 
feel  that  he  is  purifying  and  perfecting  them  by  the 
discipline  of  sorrow !  Capt.  Lott  used  to  say  that  a 
little  head-wind  is  good,  and  favors  progress;  it 
makes  the  furnaces  draw ! 

As  we  have  seen,  there  are  virtues  and  graces 
which  depend  on  sorrow  for  growth.  Unworldli¬ 
ness  is  learned  only  by  the  process  which  weans  us 
from  temporal  and  perishable  things.  If  the  wine 
is  not  poured  from  vessel  to  vessel  it  will  settle  on 
the  lees  and  taste  of  them.  The  assurance  of  hope 

380 


The  Problem  of  Suffering. 


comes  only  when  the  anchor  of  hope  has  been  tested 
by  holding  us  in  the  gale.  And  how  shall  we  get 
capacity  to  comfort  others,  until  we  are  ourselves 
comforted  of  God? 

In  the  paper-mill,  what  a  contrast  between  the 
heap  of  filthy  rags  at  one  end  and  the  pure  and 
spotless  white  paper  at  the  other !  What  a  trial  the 
rags  go  through  before  they  emerge  in  this  new 
form !  Torn  to  pieces  and  ground  to  pulp,  bleached 
with  chloride  of  lime  till  all  stains  are  removed, 
washed  over  and  over ;  submitted  to  another  bleach¬ 
ing  by  the  action  of  chlorine  and  alum,;  washed 
again  till  the  levigated  pulp  or  stuff  is  white  as 
cream  or  snowflakes;  caught  upon  a  wire  cylinder, 
after  the  severe  shaking  by  the  Fourdrinier  process, 
which  crosses  the  fibres  and  gives  compactness  and 
firmness  to  the  fabric,  and  then  passed  between  and 
around  the  hot  surfaces  which  makes  the  paper 
smooth  and  even ;  how  like  the  divine  discipline  by 
which  our  filthiness  is  cleansed  away;  how  like  the 
tribulation  out  of  which  all  they  come  up  who  have 
washed  their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb! 

In  the  preparation  of  ornamental  pottery,  how 
much  depends  on  the  lire  of  the  furnace .  The  deco¬ 
rations  are  comparatively  repulsive  till  the  heat  gives 
character  and  quality  to  the  colors.  The  substances 
used  in  painting  the  pottery  must  be  fused  into  glass, 
becoming  soft  in  the  furnace  and  at  white  heat 

381 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

melting  into  and  incorporating  with  the  substance 
of  the  vessel  itself.  Nor  must  the  pottery  cool  too 
quickly f  or  the  labor  expended  on  it  may  be  lost. 
And  even  after  all  this  “experience/’  the  dead  sur¬ 
face  must  be  polished  by  the  blood-stones  until  the 
burnishing  gives  radiance  and  brilliance ! 

And  yet  how  many  Jacobs  are  there  that  cry  in 
sorrow’s  hour,  “All  these  things  are  against  me;” 
while  “all  things  work  together  for  good !”  How 
many  Rachels,  bowing  over  the  grave  of  their  little 
ones,  weeping  for  their  children,  refuse  to  be  com¬ 
forted,  because  they  are  not !  Blessed  are  they  who 
in  the  seeming  shipwreck  of  worldly  joy  and  tem¬ 
poral  good,  cast  out  of  the  stern  the  four  blessed 
anchors  of  Faith  and  Hope  and  Love  and  Patience, 
and  then,  waiting,  “wish  for  the  day!” 

Lift  up  your  heads,  sorrowing  saints !  Glory  in 
tribulation,  for  it  worketh  patience,  and  patience 
experience;  and  what  is  experience f  It  is  the  ap¬ 
proval  of  God:  the  stamp  of  the  Divine  Assayer, 
who,  having  purified  the  precious  metal,  marks  it, 
“ Approved When  the  Lord  rejects  the  metal, 
He  stamps  it,  “Reprobate;”  when  He  releases  it 
from  the  alloy  so  that  it  mirrors  His  own  face,  He 
stamps  it,  “Approved.”  Such  “experience”  pre¬ 
pares  for  that  hope  that  maketh  not  ashamed  and 
for  that  shedding  abroad  of  His  love  in  our  hearts, 
which  is,  above  all  other,  the  earnest  and  foretaste 
of  heaven,  the  peace  which  passeth  understanding! 

382 


•The  Problem  of  Suffering. 


So,  sorrow  is  the  furnace  fire, 

The  fuller’s  soap,  the  vale  of  tears; 

Yet  sorrow  works  my  deep  desire; 

His  image  in  my  soul  appears! 

V.  There  is  another  sort  of  suffering  that  is  vol¬ 
untary  and  vicarious.  It  may  be  avoided;  by  all 
who  do  not  enter  deeply  into  fellowship  with  Christ 
it  is  escaped.  This  suffering  is  that  into  which  we 
voluntarily  enter  for  the  sake  of  such  intimate  fel¬ 
lowship  with  the  Lord,  and  abundant  service  to  men. 
The  Lord  himself  need  not  have  borne  the  cross  of 
pain  and  shame;  His  life  no  man  took  from  him; 
He  had  power  to  lay  it  down  or  keep  it.  But  hu¬ 
man  sin  needed  a  great  salvation,  and  it  could  be 
secured  only  at  the  cost  of  His  Selfemptying. 

There  are  many  passages  of  scripture  which  re¬ 
fer  to  a  similar  and  voluntary  sacrifice  of  self,  on 
the  part  of  the  disciple.  He  may  avoid  it  and  yet 
not  forfeit  his  own  salvation ,  but  he  will  forfeit  the 
closest  union  and  fellowship  with  his  Lord,  and  the 
largest  service  to  men. 

For  example,  “If  any  man  will  come  after  Me  let 
him  deny  himself  and  take  up  his  cross  and  follow 
Me”  (Matt.  XVL21-27).  This,  if  we  may  trust 
both  the  context  and  the  general  teaching  of  scrip¬ 
ture,  is  not  a  condition  of  salvation,  but  of  service. 
It  was  spoken  to  disciples  as  such — to  those  who 
by  believing  had  already  come  into  a  saved  state, 
and  is  one  condition  of  coming  after  the  Lord,  that 

383 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


is  following  Him — that  we  do  as  He  did  and  take 
up  our  cross  as  He  did.  To  make  this  a  term  of 
Salvation  is  to  produce  confusion,  for  we  are  re¬ 
peatedly  and  emphatically  taught  that  the  simple, 
single  act  of  receiving  God's  free  gift  of  Eternal 
Life  in  Christ,  makes  salvation  our  own.  To  make 
eternal  life,  therefore,  to  hang  on  any  good  work, 
or  heroic  self-denial,  is  to  obscure  grace  by  legalism. 
The  lesson  taught  here  is  rather  that  if,  being  saved 
by  the  acceptance  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  we  de¬ 
sire  to  follow  him  closely,  such  consistent  disciple- 
ship  is  impossible  without  a  voluntary  assumption 
of  that  cross  of  self-abnegation  which  was  the  badge 
at  once  of  His  glory  and  shame.  It  is  a  question  not 
of  salvation  but  of  coronation — voluntary  assump¬ 
tion  of  the  cross  as  the  way  to  obtain  the  crown. 
A  similar  lesson  is  taught  in  John  xii  124-3 1.  The 
“corn  of  wheat”  may  be  laid  up  in  a  granary  and 
preserved,  but  it  will  “abide  alone;”  the  condition 
of  producing  a  crop  is  its  burial;  it  must  die,  as  a 
seed,  if  it  is  to  live  in  the  harvest. 

Scores  of  like  scripture  teachings  may  be  found, 
all  conveying  the  same  essential  lesson.  There  is 
a  voluntary  assumption  of  “the  sufferings  of 
Christ,”  joining  Him  in  a  vicarious  work — that  is 
in  sacrifice  for  others’  sakes.  One  may  be  saved 
because  he  has  built  upon  the  one  foundation,  even 
though  the  structure  built  upon  it  is  as  worthless 
and  unenduring  as  wood,  hay  and  stubble.  But  if 
the  work  is  to  last  and  be  rewarded,  it  must  be  like 

384 


The  Problem  of  Suffering. 


the  Master’s  work.  We  must  choose  to  go  outside 
the  camp  and  bear  His  reproach  (Heb.  xiii:i3). 
We  must  consent  to  the  inevitable  antagonism  of 
the  three  great  foes — the  world,  the  flesh  and  the 
Devil.  If  we  are  of  the  world  the  world  will  love 
its  own;  if  we  live  as  He  did,  a  separate  life,  the 
world  will  hate  us  as  it  did  Him.  A  disciple  may 
give  way  to  the  carnal,  or  resist  it  and  yield  to  the 
spiritual ;  and  he  may  resist  the  Devil  and  fight  the 
good  fight  of  faith. 

Here  is  another  territory  of  truth  worthy  of  in¬ 
vestigation:  a  soul  may  be  saved  and  the  life  work 
lost.  Heaven  may  be  entered,  but  with  no  reward. 
Many,  who  are  redeemed  by  blood,  will  be  un¬ 
crowned.  The  highest  identification  with  a  suffer¬ 
ing  Saviour  in  Glory  will  be  reserved  for  those  who 
have  filled  up  that  which  is  behind  in  His  suffering, 
in  their  own  flesh,  for  His  Body’s  sake,  which  is 
the  church”  (Colos.  1:24). 

This  is  a  distinction  which  is  oftener  overlooked 
than  clearly  seen.  The  New  Testament  is  especial¬ 
ly  clear  in  distinguishing  gifts  and  rewards.  Salva¬ 
tion  is  always  represented  as  a  free  gift,  with  no  con¬ 
dition  save  acceptance,  which  is  the  only  condition 
attached  to  any  gift.  But  there  are  works  which, 
being  done  by  the  saved,  are  recognized  and  re¬ 
warded.  Hence,  the  same  chapter  in  John,  which  so 
grandly  teaches  that  to  those  who  ask,  Christ  gives 
the  living  water,  also  teaches  that  “he  that  reapeth 
receiveth  wages,  and  gather eth  fruit  unto  life  eter- 

385 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


nal”  (verses  io,  13,  36).  To  shirk  work  does  not 
forfeit  the  gift  of  salvation,  but  it  forfeits  the  wages 
of  service. 

Hence,  we  repeat,  this  suffering  for  service’s  sake 
is  not  imposed  on  us,  but  assumed  by  us.  We 
choose  it,  and  it  is  the  fact  of  such  voluntary  en¬ 
trance  into  such  fellowship  with  the  Crucified,  which 
constitutes  its  charm  and  beauty.  God  does  not 
force  it  upon  us ;  it  must  be  a  free  will  offering,  not 
a  compulsory  or  obligatory  one.  Gratitude  for  a  free 
salvation  and  love  for  the  Saviour  must  prompt  it. 
We  elect  to  undergo  this  sacrifice,  not  like  the  Ro¬ 
manist  to  secure  salvation,  but  to  identify  ourselves 
more  closely  with  Him  to  whom  we  owe  Salvation, 
and  for  the  sake  of  hastening  His  triumph  and  the 
satisfaction  of  His  travail.  We  consent  to  die  to 
self  that  we  may  live  to  Him.  It  is  not  our  safety 
but  our  fruitfulness  that  is  the  ruling  motive;  and, 
because  it  involves  self-oblivion,  comparatively  few 
are  willing  to  accept  it ;  but  the  reward  of  it  is  great, 
and  can  only  be  understood  “in  that  Day.” 

VI.  One  more  aspect  of  suffering  remains  to  be 
considered — what  we  have  called  the  permissive  and 
vindicative. 

Of  this  we  should  have  known  nothing,  apart 
from  the  inspired  volume;  but  it  is  especially  un¬ 
veiled  in  the  book  of  Job.  That  great  epic  is  a  The¬ 
odicy,  or  Justification  of  the  divine  government,  and 
only  as  such  can  be  rightly  read.  The  problem  is  to 
show  how  God’s  Justice  can  be  harmonized  with  the 

386 


The  Problem  of  Suffering. 


multiplied  sufferings  of  a  perfectly  just  man.  The 
being  arraigned  before  the  bar  of  judgment  is  really 
not  so  much  Job  as  Jehovah. 

The  name  Job  is  typical :  from  the  same  root  as 
the  word  “adversary/’  or  “enemy,”  it  means  one 
•who  is  assaulted  or  persecuted  by  an  adversary :  the 
very  name  is  therefore  the  key  to  the  book.  In  the 
prologue  three  persons  occupy  the  stage  of  action: 
Job,  Satan  and  the  Almighty  God,  the  Author,  Judge 
and  Rewarder  of  good  in  the  universe,  Who,  before 
the  heavenly  assembly,  declares  His  satisfaction  with 
Job’s  uprightness.  Satan,  the  adversary,  skeptical 
of  all  untried  virtue,  and  of  all  unselfish  piety,  chal¬ 
lenges  God’s  estimate  of  His  servant;  but,  having 
no  ground  for  impeaching  his  outward  conduct ,  as¬ 
sails  his  inward  motive *  “Doth  Job  fear  God  for 
nought?”  He  boldly  hints  that,  if  all  the  temporal 
rewards  of  his  good  behavior  were  withdrawn,  his 
virtue  would  prove  easily  assailable — that  his  ex¬ 
ternal  prosperity  was  the  hedge  that  fenced  out 
temptation. 

The  thoughtful  student  will  see  that  this  blow 
was  really  aimed  at  God  Himself,  for  to  deny  that 
even  the  best  of  men  loves  God  for  His  own  sake, 
apart  from  His  benefits,  is  to  insinuate  that  He  is  not 
worth,  or  is  unable  to  inspire,  such  love!  To  tell  a 
manufacturer  that,  but  for  his  wages,  not  a  work¬ 
man  would  have  any  respect  for  him,  or  to  hint  to 
a  father  that  all  that  keeps  his  household  from 
abandoning  him,  is  food  and  clothing,  is,  most  of 

387 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


all,  to  humiliate  the  business  head  or  the  parent. 
To  be  incapable  of  winning  disinterested  love  is  to 
lack  the  highest  virtue,  and,  if  Job  only  served  God 
for  what  he  got  by  it,  God  must  Himself  be  deficient 
in  all  that  attracts  true  devotion. 

Satan’s  hatred  of  God  prompts  him  to  charge 
God’s  model  man  with  being  a  mere  mercenary,  that 
he  may  indirectly  charge  God  with  being  Himself 
lacking  in  perfection :  for,  as  Godet  says,  “No  one  is 
honoured  except  so  far  as  he  is  loved.”* 

This  assault  on  God  explains  the  book.  God  vin¬ 
dicates  His  own  honor  by  permitting  Satan  to  at¬ 
tack  this  servant,  to  sweep  away  the  hedge  about 
him,  and  successively  strike  at  his  property,  his  fam¬ 
ily,  and  finally  himself.  The  rich  man  suddenly  be¬ 
comes  a  beggar,  the  father,  childless,  and  the  vig¬ 
orous  man  is  hopelessly  smitten  with  leprosy,  which, 
beside  its  terrors  as  disease,  was  a  walking  parable 
of  death,  and  divine  judgment.  Even  his  wife’s 
faith  turns  to  ashes,  but  Job  still  holds  firmly  to 
God. 

Then  comes  the  last  form  of  Job’s  trial.  His 
three  friends  turn  against  him,  and  practically  side 
with  his  wife  and  Satan.  They  argue  that,  as  God 
is  just,  and  awards  both  virtue  and  vice  righteously, 
Job’s  extraordinary  and  multiplied  trials  prove  se¬ 
cret  guilt,  and  urge  him  to  confession.  They  see  no 
clue  to  such  suffering  save  that  the  God  of  Recom¬ 
penses  is  requiting  evil  doing ;  and  that  He  by  whom 

*OId  Testament  Studies.  Vinet. 

388 


The  Problem  of  Suffering. 


actions  are  weighed  with  exact  justice  is  adjusting 
so  much  sorrow  to  so  much  sin. 

Job  is  plunged  into  the  deepest  trouble,  for  he 
cannot  answer  such  arguments.  In  default  of  help 
from  reason,  he  appeals  to  conscience.  He  knows 
not  what  to  do ;  if  he  vindicates  God,  he  must  accuse 
himself;  if  he  vindicates  himself  he  must  accuse 
God.  In  despair  he  can  only  hold  on  to  God,  be¬ 
lieving  that  at  some  time,  it  may  be  after  death,  his 
own  vindication  will  come  and  in  that  the  vin¬ 
dication  also  of  his  Maker. 

Elihu’s  voice  is  heard,  toward  the  end  of  the  book, 
as  (Ehler  says,  “indignant  with  Job,  because  he 
could  only  justify  himself  by  accusing  God;  and 
with  Job’s  friends  because  they  could  justify  God 
only  by  accusing  Job.”  He  suggests  a  partial  solu¬ 
tion  of  the  enigma :  that  suffering  is  not  always  ret¬ 
ributive,  but,  as  we  have  seen,  purgative  and  edu¬ 
cative,  correcting  faults  and  preventing  lapses  into 
sin.  But  this  is  not  a  complete  explanation,  which 
is  reserved  for  Jehovah  Himself,  who  alone  can  ex¬ 
plain  His  own  ways. 

Twice  He  overwhelms  Job:  in  His  first  address 
challenging  him  to  explain  the  mystery  of  the  uni¬ 
verse,  and,  in  the  second,  to  govern  it  better  than 
his  Maker.  While  He  scorns  to  justify  Himself  in 
man’s  eyes,  He  thus  reminds  Job  that  he  must  trust 
infinite  perfection,  and  accept  the  veil  of  mystery 
that  hides  Him,  winning  in  the  trial  of  patience  by 
faith,  not  sight.  And  Job,  having  held  out  to  the 

389 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


end,  however  imperfectly,  has  a  double  crown  of 
prosperity. 

All  that  we  care  now  to  emphasize  is  that  some 
suffering,  and  that  which  is  the  most  inexplicable, 
may  be,  as  seen  from  heavenly  summits,  our  highest 
honor,  in  that  we  were  permitted  to  be  assaulted 
of  the  Devil,  in  order  to  the  vindication  of  God: 
that  our  pains  and  losses  were  not  retributive  of  our 
sin,  but  vindicative  of  His  perfection:  that  it  was 
given  us  as  a  high  privilege  “to  suffer  for  His  sake,” 
to  show  that  He  was  so  infinitely  lovely  that  He 
could  win  and  hold  our  affection  and  allegiance 
when  only  Himself  was  left. 

We  close  this  imperfect  study  of  the  problem  of 
suffering  by  suggesting  a  few  grand  reliefs  to  the 
darkness  of  what  would  otherwise  be  despair. 

1.  <(God  is  Love  ”  This  is  the  last  revelation  of 
His  character.  Long  before,  in  His  Word  He  had 
been  presented  as  Righteousness,  Fountain  of  Life 
and  Light,  the  Holy  One.  But  it  is  given  to  John, 
at  last,  to  give  this  new  name,  and  to  declare  not 
that  He  is  lovely  or  loving,  but  IS  LOVE — the  in¬ 
carnation  of  unselfish  benevolence.  We  are  there¬ 
fore  dealing  with  One  who  is  too  wise  to  err  in 
judgment,  and  too  good  to  err  through  malice.  In 
His  hands  we  may  safely  trust  ourselves,  welcoming 
His  discipline  and  confident  that  in  doing  as  He 
pleases,  He  will  please  to  do  only  what  is  the  very 
best. 

2.  Trial  is  the  school  of  trust .  Faith  gets  new 

39o 


The  Problem  of  Suffering. 


purity,  temper  and  tenacity  in  furnace  fires.  It  is 
in  the  deepest  darkness  of  the  starless  midnight  that 
men  learn  how  to  hold  on  the  hidden  Hand  most 
tightly  and  how  that  Hand  holds  them ;  that  He  sees 
where  we  do  not,  and  knows  the  way  He  takes ;  and 
though  the  way  be  to  us  a  roundabout  way,  it  is  the 
right  way  and  leads  to  the  city  of  habitation. 

3.  The  sweetest  songs  are  “songs  in  the  night  ” 
Praise  is  easy  when  we  are  prosperous.  There  is 
a  natural  gratitude  that  says  “God,  I  thank  Thee 
that  I  am  not  as  other  men  are,”  but  it  takes  a 
Spiritual  gratitude,  in  everything  to  give  thanks, 
even  when  self  indulgence  is  turned  into  the  endur¬ 
ance  of  pain.  On  sunny  days,  when  blessings  are 
plenty,  there  is  an  outpour  of  animal  spirits  that  may 
easily  be  mistaken  for  joy  in  God.  But  would  you 
be  as  joyful  in  God  if  there  were  less  to  be  joyful 
for  in  yourself  and  in  your  surroundings?  You 
say,  “He  has  been  very  good  to  me,”  and  you  mean, 
in  your  prosperity.  Was  He  any  less  good  to  Job 
in  his  adversity?  Can  you  bless  Him  like  Job, 
when  He  takes  as  when  He  gives?  Yet,  He  is  some¬ 
times  more  considerate  of  us  in  withholding  or  with¬ 
drawing  what  we  love  and  crave  than  when  He 
gives.  Bestowments  are  sometimes  worse  for  us 
than  deprivations. 

There  is  a  hymn  of  Benjamin  Schmolke’s  whose 
true  beauty  can  be  understood  only  by  knowing  the 
circumstances  in  which  it  was  written.  This  Luth¬ 
eran  pastor  first  suffered  from  a  fire  that  devastated 

39i 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


his  parish;  then  from  a  bereavement  that  emptied 
his  home;  then  from  a  paralysis  that  left  him  a 
blind  and  helpless  cripple.  It  was  on  his  bed,  after 
these  accumulated  afflictions,  that  he  dictated  that 
hymn,  in  which,  by  italicized  lines,  we  indicate  the 
references  to  all  these  forms  of  sorrow.  How  ex¬ 
quisitely  pathetic,  yet  how  gloriously  triumphant  1 

My  Jesus,  as  Thou  wiltl 
Oh,  may  Thy  will  be  mine; 

Into  Thy  hand  of  love 
I  would  my  all  resign; 

Through  sorrow ,  or  through  joy. 

Conduct  me  as  Thy  own. 

And  help  me  still  to  say, 

My  Lord,  Thy  will  be  done! 

My  Jesus,  as  Thou  wilt! 

Though  seen  through  many  a  tear. 

Let  not  my  star  of  hope 
Grow  dim  or  disappear ; 

Since  Thou  on  earth  hast  wept. 

And  sorrowed  oft  alone, 

If  I  must  weep  with  Thee, 

My  Lord,  Thy  will  be  done! 

My  Jesus,  as  Thou  wilt! 

All  shall  be  well  for  me; 

Each  changing  future  scene 
I  gladly  trust  with  Thee : 

392 


The  Problem  of  Suffering. 

Straight  to  my  home  above 
I  travel  calmly  on, 

And  sing,  in  life  or  death, 

My  Lord,  Thy  will  be  done! 

Thus  the  most  precious  fruits  in  character 
and  life  are  the  results  of  sorrow — the  highest  sanc¬ 
tity  and  the  noblest  service.  It  is  worth  while  to 
have  gone  through  tribulations  as  many  as  Paul’s, 
to  have  learned  like  him  two  lessons :  how  God  can 
comfort  us  in  all  our  tribulations;  and  how  He  can 
prepare  us  with  a  like  solace  to  comfort  others  (2 
Cor.  i:4,  5).  Our  highest  success  is  to  be  one  with* 
Him,  absorbed  in  His  will  and  plan,  so  as  to  be  ab¬ 
solutely  confident  in  Him  when  all  seems  against  us. 

A  lesson  on  “The  hardness  of  God’s  love”  has 
been  left  for  us  by  one  who  was  for  years  laid  on 
a  couch  of  suffering: 

“I  kept  for  nearly  a  year  the  flask-shaped  cocoon 
of  an  emperor  moth.  It  is  very  peculiar  in  its  con¬ 
struction.  A  narrow  opening  is  left  in  the  neck  of 
the  flask,  through  which  the  perfect  insect  forces  its 
way;  so  that  a  forsaken  cocoon  is  as  entire  as  one 
still  tenanted,  no  rupture  of  the  interlacing  fibres 
having  taken  place. 

“The  great  disproportion  between  the  means  of 
egress  and  the  size  of  the  prisoned  insect  makes 
one  wonder  how  the  exit  is  ever  accomplished  at 
all,  and  it  never  is  without  great  labour  and  diffi¬ 
culty.  It  is  supposed  that  the  pressure  to  which  the 

393 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


moth’s  body  is  subjected  in  passing  through  the 
narrow  opening  is  a  provision  of  nature  for  forcing 
the  juices  into  vessels  of  the  wings,  these  being  less 
developed  at  the  period  of  emergence  from  the 
chrysalis  than  they  are  in  other  insects. 

“I  happened  to  witness  the  first  efforts  of  my 
imprisoned  moth  to  escape  from  its  long  confine¬ 
ment.  Nearly  a  whole  forenoon,  from  time  to  time, 
I  watched  it  patiently  striving  and  struggling  to  get 
out.  It  never  seemed  able  to  get  beyond  a  certain 
point,  and  at  last  my  patience  was  exhausted.  I 
thought  I  was  wiser  and  more  compassionate  than 
its  Maker,  and  resolved  to  give  it  a  helping  hand. 

“With  the  points  of  my  scissors  I  snipped  the 
confining  threads  to  make  the  exit  just  a  very  little 
easier,  and  lo !  immediately,  and  with  perfect  ease, 
out  crawled  my  moth,  dragging  a  swollen  body  and 
little  shrivelled  wings.  In  vain  I  watched  to  see 
that  marvellous  progress  of  expansion  in  which  the 
wings  silently  and  swiftly  develop  before  our  eyes; 
and  as  I  traced  the  exquisite  spots  and  working  of 
divers  colors,  which  were  all  there  in  miniature,  I 
longed  to  see  these  assume  their  due  proportions, 
and  the  creature  appear  in  all  its  perfect  beauty,  as 
in  truth  it  is  one  of  the  loveliest  of  its  kind. 

“But  I  looked  in  vain;  mv  false  tenderness  had 
proved  its  ruin.  It  never  was  anything  but  a  stunt¬ 
ed  abortion,  crawling  painfully  through  that  brief 
life  which  it  should  have  spent  flying  through  the 
air  on  rainbow  wings. 


394 


The  Problem  of  Suffering. 


“The  lesson  I  got  that  day  has  often  stood  me  in 
good  stead.  It  has  helped  me  to  understand  what 
the  Germans  call  ‘the  hardness  of  God’s  love.’  I 
have  thought  of  it  often  when  watching  with  pitiful 
eyes  those  who  were  struggling  with  sorrows,  suf¬ 
fering  or  distress,  and  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  I 
was  more  merciful  than  God,  and  I  would  fain  have 
cut  short  the  discipline,  and  given  deliverance. 
Short-sighted  fool ! — how  know  I  that  one  of  those 
pains  and  groans  could  be  spared  ?  The  far-sighted, 
perfect  love  of  God,  which  seeks  the  perfection  of 
its  object,  does  not  weakly  shrink  from  present 
transient  suffering.  Our  Father’s  love  is  too  true 
to  be  weak.  Because  He  loves  His  children  He 
chastens  them,  that  they  may  be  ‘partakers  of  His 
holiness.’  With  this  glorious  end  in  view,  He  spares 
not  for  their  crying.  ‘Made  perfect  through  suffer¬ 
ing,’  as  Christ  was,  the  sons  of  God  are  trained  up 
to  obedience,  and  brought  to  glory  ‘through  much 
tribulation.’  ” 

4.  Suffering  sometimes  is  the  summit  of  privilege. 
Nothing  is  more  perilous  to  a  disciple  than  a  self- 
centred  life ;  our  danger  lies  in  self  sparing,  not 
self  denying.  The  Devil  is  always  bidding  us  to 
spare  ourselves,  while  the  Lord  as  constantly  bids 
us  deny  ourselves.  Perhaps  the  Transfiguration 
which  immediately  followed  this  injunction,  this  rev¬ 
elation  of  the  life  of  suffering,  was  meant  to  teach 
the  blessedness  of  voluntary  self-emptying.  From 
that  mountain  top,  doubtless,  He  might  have  ascend- 

305 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


ed,  had  He  chosen,  to  the  true  “Delectable  Moun¬ 
tains”  of  His  heavenly  home,  straight  into  the  glory. 
And,  when  Peter  proposed  the  three  tabernacles,  in  a 
double  sense  he  knew  not  what  he  said;  for,  had 
the  Lord  chosen  to  abide  in  the  glory,  the  world 
would  have  been  left  to  abide  in  sin  and  sorrow. 
He  descended  from  those  marvellous  glories  to  the 
shame  of  the  Cross:  And  thus  He  taught  the  dis¬ 
ciples  to  postpone  the  coronation  and  accept  the  cru¬ 
cifixion . 

We  cannot  atone  for  sin,  but  we  may  share  the 
spirit  of  the  Atoning  Saviour.  We  may,  like  Him, 
suffer  for  others’  sakes;  and  to  all  such  He  says: 

“Ye  are  they  which  have  continued  with  Me  in 
My  temptations,  and  I  appoint  unto  you  a  kingdom, 
as  My  Father  hath  appointed  unto  Me,  that  ye  may 
eat  and  drink  at  My  table  in  My  kingdom,  and  sit 
on  thrones  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel” 
(Luke  xxii  :28-3o). 

When  Catharine  of  Siena  used  to  stretch  out  her 
hand  in  agonizing  intercession,  and  implore :  “Prom¬ 
ise  me,  dear  Lord,  that  Thou  wilt  save  them!  O, 
give  me  a  token  that  Thou  wilt;”  the  Lord  seemed 
to  clasp  her  outstretched  hand,  and  she  felt  a  pierc¬ 
ing  pain,  as  though  a  nail  had  been  driven  through 
her  own  palm!  She  felt  the  grasp  of  the  pierced 
hand  of  her  Lord. 

Who  of  us  are  willing,  for  the  sake  of  saving 
souls,  to  share  His  pangs!  Yet,  is  there  any  power 
to  win  and  save,  until  we  have  felt  that  agony; 


396 


The  Problem  of  Suffering. 


until  in  some  measure  we  have  entered  into  the 
fellowship  of  His  sufferings ! 

Here  then  is  another  great  solution  of  a  great 
enigma.  The  blind  cannot  lead  the  blind,  except  to 
the  common  ditch  of  a  despairing  perplexity.  But 
he  who  follows  scriptural  leading,  finds  a  divine 
light  cast  into  the  darkest  chambers  of  this  prob¬ 
lem  of  suffering. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  Problem  of  Providence. 

The  Scripture  basis  may  be  laid  in  a  few  leading 
texts : 

“Abraham  called  the  name  of  tnat  place,  JEHO¬ 
VAH  JIREH— the  Lord  will  provide”  (Genesis 
xxii  :i4). 

“In  all  thy  ways  acknowledge  Him,  and  He  shall 
direct  thy  paths”  (Proverbs  iii:6). 

“The  Lord  is  a  God  of  knowledge,  and  by  Him 
actions  are  weighed”  (i  Samuel  ii  13 ) . 

“The  Lord  God  of  Recompenses  shall  surely  re¬ 
quite”  (Jeremiah  IL56). 

“For  this  cause  have  I  raised  thee  up,  for  to  shew 
in  thee  my  power”  (Exodus  ix:i6). 

“Surely  the  wrath  of  man  shall  praise  Thee: 

“The  remainder  of  wrath  shalt  Thou  restrain” 
(Psalm  lxxvi:io). 

“He  calleth  His  own  sheep  by  name,  and  leadeth 
them  out”  (John  x:$). 

It  marks  the  poverty  of  human  language  that  even 
the  rich  English  tongue  supplies  no  word  to  express 
exactly  what  is  meant  by  divine  “Providence  ”  The 
word  literally  means  prevision,  a  foreseeing,  and  so 
prevision  comes  to  mean  provision — preparation  for 
that  which  is  foreseen,  and  then  to  convey  a  larger 

398 


The  Problem  of  Providence. 


conception  of  superintendence  over  creation,  in  all 
parts  of  the  universe,  through  all  ages  of  time,  and 
in  all  matters,  great  or  small.  But  no  such  fulness 
of  meaning  is  suggested  by  the  word  itself. 

The  texts  above  quoted  outline  teaching  that  per¬ 
vades  the  whole  Bible,  and  which  no  isolated  pass¬ 
ages  can  properly  represent.  But  a  cursory  glance 
shows  that,  in  them,  God  is  represented,  on  the  one 
hand,  as  a  Provider;  and,  on  the  other,  as  a  Recom - 
penser;  that  obedient  souls  may  look  to  Him  for  in¬ 
dividual  guidance,  even  in  small  matters,  confident 
that  in  His  general  supervision  of  all,  the  individual 
is  not  forgotten;  and  that  He  constrains  even  His 
foes  to  fulfil  His  designs,  restraining  their  violence 
within  fixed  bounds;  and  shewing  Himself  a  God 
of  perfect  knowledge  and  justice,  by  weighing  with 
precision  all  human  actions  and  with  certainty  re¬ 
quiting  both  good  and  evil. 

No  grander  metaphors  can  be  found,  even  in  this 
inspired  book,  than  those  used  to  convey  this  con¬ 
ception  of  God’s  Providence.  He  is  represented  as 
seated  in  heaven  as  on  a  throne,  resting  His  feet 
upon  the  earth  as  His  footstool;  His  raiment,  the 
light;  lightning  the  flash  of  His  eye  and  thunder 
the  voice  of  His  indignation.  He  rides  on  the  clouds 
as  His  chariot,  and  flies  on  the  wings  of  the  wind. 
He  takes  up  the  waters  in  His  palm,  and  the  isles 
as  a  very  little  thing.  He  touches  the  hills  and  they 
smoke  as  volcanoes,  He  speaks  and  the  earth  trem¬ 
bles  and  quakes.  What  magnificent  conceptions,  ex- 

399 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

pressed  in  what  overwhelming  affluence  of  poetic 
imagery ! 

This,  then,  is  the  biblical  doctrine  of  Divine  Prov¬ 
idence.  God,  the  Creator,  is  the  Administrator  of 
the  material  and  moral,  universe ;  He  personally  fills 
all  time  and  space,  ever  present  and  everywhere 
present  He  controls  all  creatures  and  all  events; 
foreseeing  all  crises  and  emergencies,  He  provides 
against  them  and  for  them,  in  infinite  wisdom,  power 
and  goodness.  Yet,  with  all  this  majesty,  terrible  in 
power  and  might,  is  combined  gentleness  and  ten¬ 
derness,  equally  infinite,  so  that  there  is  not  a  being, 
a  creature,  or  an  atom,  too  small  and  insignificant  to 
be  under  His  loving  care.  He  calls  the  stars  by 
name,  and  each  of  His  sheep ;  the  odd  sparrow  that, 
when  two  farthings’  worth  were  bought,  was 
thrown  in  as  not  worth  mentioning.  He  does  not 
forget;  nor  does  a  lily  of  the  field  or  a  blade  of 
grass  escape  His  notice. 

This  doctrine  of  God’s  superintendence  and  con¬ 
trol  of  all  creatures  and  events  implies  a  Higher 
Hand  behind  all  the  shifting  scenery  of  this  world, 
and  the  devlopments  of  history — infinite  knowledge 
— nothing  being  hidden  from  His  eye,  and  the  fu¬ 
ture  being  as  the  present ;  infinite  Wisdom,  all  things 
being  guided,  as,  by  a  Master  Pilot’s  hand  on  the 
helm,  a  vessel  is  steered  through  stormy  seas  and 
past  dangers,  rocks  and  whirlpools,  to  the  desired 
haven.  There  is  also  infinite  Benevolence,  so  that 
all  things,  even  the  most  seemingly  adverse,  work 

400 


The  Problem  of  Providence. 


together  for  ultimate  good ;  and  infinite  care  of  de¬ 
tails,  so  that  nothing  escapes  supervision,  as  outside 
God’s  thought  and  plan. 

But  Divine  Providence,  properly  understood,  im¬ 
plies  also  action — actual  administration — efficacious 
government,  continuous,  universal,  irresistible;  and, 
inasmuch  as,  for  the  time  being,  many  things  are 
wrong  and  work  harm,  God’s  Providence  cannot 
be  complete  without  a  final  and  perfect  adjustment 
of  all  issues.  He  who  is  the  God  of  Providence 
must  be  the  final  Judge.  Though  the  word  Provi¬ 
dence  literally  means  only  foresight,  Divine  fore¬ 
sight  implies  foreplanning  and  foreacting,  a  com¬ 
prehensive  prearrangement  for  the  securing  and  ac¬ 
complishing  of  all  desirable  ends. 

So  considered,  this  truth  is  one  of  the  great 
peaks  in  the  mountain  range  which,  as  the  Cordil¬ 
leras,  in  the  American  continent,  are  the  backbone  to 
the  whole  Western  Hemisphere,  constitute  the  sub¬ 
lime  elevations  of  Scripture.  Based  on  the  bed  rock 
of  God’s  omniscience,  omnipresence  and  omnipo¬ 
tence,  this  superbly  grand  truth  rises  to  the  loftiest 
level,  its  stern  sides  bathed  in  the  light  of  His  Love, 
and  converging  in  one  crystal  cone  of  eternal  glory, 
beyond  all  the  clouds,  storms  and  mists  which  be¬ 
long  only  to  lower  levels. 

But  every  great  peak  of  truth  has  its  earthly  and 
heavenly  altitudes,  and  must  be  studied  from  two 
aspects — the  Here  and  the  Hereafter,  for  neither 
alone  explains  the  whole  mystery.  It  was  from 

401 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


looking  at  the  earthly  and  temporal  aspect  unduly 
that  Job,  Asaph  and  many  others  like  them,  stum¬ 
bled,  till  their  steps  had  wellnigh  slipped  into  the 
fatal  abyss  of  atheism  (Job  xxi,  xxiv;  Psalm 
xxxvii:35;  Ixxiii). 

Of  this  doctrine  one  book  in  the  Sacred  Canon  is 
the  exposition  and  illustration — the  Book  of  Esther. 
In  all  its  ten  chapters  not  once  is  found  the  name  of 
Jehovah ,  or  any  other  title  of  God;  nor  any  clear 
reference  to  a  Divine  Being.  Yet  careful  study  can 
trace  the  planning  and  working  of  God  throughout. 
Amid  many  striking  incidents  there  are  no  acci¬ 
dents.  The  story  reminds  us  of  the  strangely  beau¬ 
tiful  and  symmetrical  way  in  which  particles  of  min¬ 
eral  or  metal  take  shape  on  a  surface,  when  a  mag¬ 
net  is  held  on  the  underside.  We  feel,  as  we  read, 
that  an  Invisible  Power  is  behind  all  the  changes  of 
events ;  and  here,  as  in  no  other  one  book  in  the 
Canon,  all  the  great  leading  truths  of  Divine  Provi¬ 
dence  are  illustratively  set  forth,  so  that  not  one 
needs  to  be  added  to  make  the  whole  complete. 

The  conspicuous  figures  and  actors  in  this  drama 
are  a  Persian  king,  Ahasuerus — probably,  Xerxes; 
Vashti,  his  queen;  Esther  or  Hadassah,  chosen  to 
succeed  Vashti  when  she  was  put  away;  Memucan, 
the  king's  counsellor,  and  Hatach,  the  king’s  cham¬ 
berlain;  Haman,  the  Jews’  enemy,  who  plotted  their 
ruin,  and  Mordecai,  Esther’s  uncle  and  adopted 
father,  whom  Haman  hated  because  he  refused  to 
do  him  homage.  About  the  events  here  recorded, 

402 


The  Problem  of  Providence. 


covering  perhaps  in  all  ten  or  twelve  years,  revolves 
the  whole  mystery  of  Providence,  every  grand  fea¬ 
ture  of  it  set  forth  as  in  pictorial  and  concrete  form, 
and  better,  perhaps,  than  any  abstract  study  of  the 
doctrine  is  this  illustrative  historical  example.  This 
complete  teaching  may  be  outlined : 

I.  First,  Divine  Providence  presents  a  present 
Paradox . 

Here  is  the  first  factor  in  the  problem:  the  good 
suffer;  the  bad  prosper.  Vashti  is  divorced  because 
her  modesty  and  virtue  forbid  indecent  exposure  of 
her  person  before  courtiers  inflamed  with  wine. 
Mordecai  and  innocent  Jews  are  under  the  ban  and 
in  danger  not  only  of  robbery  and  outrage,  but  of 
death.  Ahasuerus,  a  licentious  despot,  occupies  a 
throne  and  wields  a  sceptre,  and  Haman,  a  demon 
in  human  form,  coolly  plots  the  massacre  of  an  en¬ 
tire  race,  out  of  simple  hate  and  malice. 

This  is  the  Mystery  of  the  Ages.  Things,  here 
and  now,  are  not  right ;  so  much  is  wrong  that  one 
feels  tempted  to  think  at  times  that  there  is  no 
God  to  hold  the  balances  with  an  even  hand.  Justice 
is  represented  in  Scripture  as  blind,  to  indicate  im¬ 
partiality;  but  what  if  Justice  has  no  eyes  to  see 
that  the  scales  do  not  hang  evenly  and  that  there  is 
no  proper  weighing  of  human  character  and  con¬ 
duct! 

The  superficial  observer  hastily  infers  that  there 
is  no  God,  or  that  He  is  practically  too  far  off. 
Froude  reminded  Carlyle  that  there  is  a  God,  but 

403 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

he  grumbled,  “He  does  nothing”!  The  silence  of 
God — His  apparent  inaction  and  indifference,  while 
wrong  goes  on  and  right  is  under  foot,  has  stum¬ 
bled  the  faith  of  many  and  wrecked  the  faith  of  not 
a  few.  Tyrants  trample  on  helpless  subjects,  and 
malice  plots  against  innocence,  and  builds  gallows 
for  the  just.  Wholesale  massacres  are  planned  and 
perpetrated,  as  in  Armenia,  till  blood  flows  in  rivers 
— and  yet  God  pays  no  heed,  and  seems  more  indif¬ 
ferent  than  man!  “If  there  be  a  God,”  men  say, 
“either  He  cares  not  or  He  cannot .”  , 

II.  The  Real  solution  to  the  Problem  of  Provi¬ 
dence  is  a  Future  Judgment. 

The  Book  of  Esther  shows  light  ahead.  For 
a  while  all  went  wrong,  but  there  came  a  time,  even 
on  earth,  when  wrongs  began  to  be  righted.  Posi¬ 
tions  were  reversed,  victims  became  victors,  Haman 
was  hung  on  his  own  gallows,  and  the  persecuted 
Jews  slew  their  persecutors. 

Both  evil  and  good  have  their  ultimate  awards,  ac¬ 
cording  to  desert.  There  are  grand  principles  that 
cannot  be  upset  in  the  moral  sphere,  until,  as  Dr. 
Parkhurst  says,  “Eternity  ends  and  God  dies !”  The 
prosperity  of  evil  doers  is,  like  the  pleasures  of  sin, 
only  for  a  season,  at  the  longest  short  lived,  and 
eventuates  in  adversity;  the  adversity  of  the  good 
eventuates  in  prosperity.  When  Asaph  went  into 
the  Sanctuary  of  God,  then  understood  he  the  “end” 
of  evil  doers;  though  their  strength  seemed  firm, 
their  feet  were  set  in  slippery  places  and  slid  in  due 

404 


The  Problem  of  Providence. 

time  (Luke  xv  1:22-25).  The  prosperity  of  the 
wicked  is  unsafe,  and  unsatisfying  even  while  it 
lasts. 

Lowell  wrote  of  an  ever  “present  crisis,” 

“Careless  seems  the  great  avenger :  History’s  pages 
but  record 

One  death  grapple  in  the  darkness,  twixt  old  sys¬ 
tems  and  the  Word. 

Truth  forever  on  the  scaffold ;  wrong  forever  on 
the  throne: 

But  that  scaffold  sways  the  Future;  and,  behind 
the  dim  Unknown, 

Standeth  God,  within  the  shadow,  keeping  watch 
above  His  own.” 

Those  who  wait  long  enough  will  find  all  wrongs 
will  be  righted;  if  not  here,  hereafter.  There  is 
obvious  moral  disorder  and  disarrangement,  but 
there  will  be  an  entire  reversal  of  all  abnormal  con¬ 
ditions,  and,  either  in  this  life  or  the  life  to  come, 
an  exact  adjustment  of  awards.  The  story  of  Esther 
shows  how,  within  the  compass  of  one  human  life, 
and  even  of  a  very  short  period,  such  reversals  may 
take  place;  but  right  and  truth  are  sure  to  prevail, 
ultimately.  The  great  providential  administrator 
ean  afford  to  be  patient,  because  He  is  eternal. 

III.  Divine  Providence  provides ,  as  well  as  fore¬ 
sees. 

God  is  equal  to  every  emergency.  He  provides 
far  every  coming  need,  and  against  every  coming 

405 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


disaster.  To  Him  there  is  no  real  crisis ;  all  history 
is  His  Story.  He  controls  all  actors  and  actions, 
times  and  events.  To  Him  is  due  all  triumph  of 
truth  and  right ;  by  His  permission  all  falsehood  and 
evil  run  their  course.  What  of  the  wrath  of  man 
and  of  demons  He  can  use.  He  uses ;  the  remainder 
He  restrains.  His  curb  bit  is  in  the  mouth  of  every 
mad  steed,  trampling  in  fury  over  human  rights. 
Pharaoh  and  Moses  were  alike  raised  up  to  show 
His  power,  and  Cyrus  was  as  truly  His  anointed 
and  appointed  one  as  Daniel.  He  had  as  much  the 
control  of  Ahasuerus  and  Haman  as  of  Mordecai 
and  Esther. 

In  this  short  book  some  ten  or  eleven  actors  are 
the  personal  factors  in  the  history :  Ahasuerus,  Vash- 
ti  and  Esther,  Mordecai,  Haman  and  Zeresh,  Mem- 
ucan,  Hatach  and  Harbonah,  Bigthana  and  Teresh. 
Five  are  conspicuous,  the  others,  not;  but  all  are 
named  and  brought  into  the  plot,  to  show  that, 
whether  obvious  or  obscure,  human  agency  forms  a 
necessary  part  of  the  universal  scheme.  All  details 
in  the  world-wide,  age  long,  drama  of  History,  God 
manages.  The  actors  appear  on  the  stage  and  re¬ 
tire,  at  His  pleasure,  and  their  conduct  He  controls. 
Through  all  these  complicated  events,  and  various 
lives,  and  the  strange  course  of  things,  He  is  su¬ 
premely  guiding — the  great  Actor  and  Mover,  to 
Whom  all  is  ultimately  traceable.  Whatever  is  good 
He  ordains  and  decrees;  whatever  is  evil,  He  per¬ 
mits  and  restrains.  Men,  when  most  self-willed, 

406 


The  Problem  of  Providence. 


are  unconsciously  fulfilling  His  will;  and  the  mo¬ 
ment  they  have  come  to  the  end  of  His  purpose  they 
come  to  the  end  of  their  course. 

IV.  This  Divine  Providence  is  special  as  well  as 
general. 

The  vast  host  of  stars  is  not  too  countless  to  be 
called  by  name;  nor  the  blades  of  grass  and  flocks 
of  sparrows  too  many  to  be  noticed  individually; 
nor  the  hundred  thousand  hairs  of  our  head,  too  nu¬ 
merous  to  be  all  “numbered/’  which  means  more 
than  counted — suggesting  that  each  has  its  own 
number ,  like  the  mystic  “man  of  sin,”  in  the  Apoc¬ 
alypse.  All  events,  however  seemingly  trivial  and 
trifling,  are  woven  into  the  fabric  of  His  purpose 
upon  His  loom.  He  works  not  only  through  the 
extraordinary  and  supernatural,  but  through  the  or¬ 
dinary  and  natural,  dignifying  common  life  as  the 
sphere  of  His  working,  so  that  whatever  occurs  is 
part  of  His  plan.  His  Providence  is  microscopic. 
What  would  be  thought  beneath  His  notice  He  not 
only  notices  but  thus  dignifies  and  exalts,  by  em¬ 
bracing  it  in  the  warp  and  woof  of  His  universal 
Providence. 

In  this  book  of  Esther  minute  events  are  not  only 
inwoven  into  the  larger  plot,  but  constitute  the  con¬ 
spicuous  features  in  the  pattern,  as  single,  colored 
threads  often  outline  figures  in  tapestry.  Great 
crises,  like  doors,  turn  upon  small  hinges.  Vashti’s 
refusal  to  attend  a  banquet,  and  the  king’s  arbitrary 
temper;  the  caprice  that  fancies  Esther,  the  trifling 

407 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


circumstance  of  her  kinship  with  Mordecai,  and  his 
Jewish  reluctance  to  pay  homage  to  Haman;  the 
accident  of  the  king’s  sleeplessness,  and  his  fancy 
for  having  the  chronicles  of  his  reign  read  to  him, 
and  the  other  accident  of  the  reader’s  stumbling  on 
the  record  of  the  attempted  assassination,  and  Mor- 
decai’s  information ;  the  chance  of  the  king’s  favor¬ 
ably  receiving  Esther  when  she  came  to  him  unbid¬ 
den;  the  accident  of  a  courtier’s  having  noticed  the 
gallows  built  by  Haman,  and  mentioning  it  at  the 
exact  time  when  the  king  was  meditating  vengeance 
on  Haman;  such  are  a  few  of  the  apparent  trifles 
upon  which  hang  all  the  greater  issues  of  the  story. 
They  remind  us  how,  in  God’s  sight,  nothing  is 
small.  When  He  makes  History  it  is  a  Mosaic 
of  ten  thousand  little  fragments;  but  each  bit  of 
stone  helps  to  complete  the  design,  and  is  essential 
to  its  completeness. 

V.  But  again,  Divine  Providence  is  not  to  be  con¬ 
fused  with  Fatalism;  nor  construed  as  interfering 
with  human  freedom.  God’s  sovereignty  and  man’s 
liberty  co-exist;  His  decrees  do  not  imply  an  inev¬ 
itable  doom  from  which  there  is  no  escape,  or  even 
a  fixed  destiny  to  which  we  blindly  come  at  last 
whether  we  will  or  not.  However  we  may  be  un¬ 
able  to  find  the  point  of  convergence,  the  two  lines 
of  God’s  action  and  man’s  action  are  not  parallel; 
they  come  together  in  harmony  somehow  and  some¬ 
where.  In  this  book  a  Providential  Plan  is,  from 
first  to  last,  wrought  out;  yet  all  parties  follow  un- 

408 


The  Problem  of  Providence. 


hindered  their  own  choice,  whether  for  good  or 
evil.  When  the  grand  crisis  comes  Mordecai  re¬ 
minds  Esther  that  for  just  such  a  time  as  this  she 
may  have  come  to  the  kingdom;  but  we  see  her 
weighing  the  whole  question  of  opportunity  and  re¬ 
sponsibility  with  all  the  risks  of  failure  and  disaster, 
and  calmly  resolving  to  go  in  unto  the  king,  un¬ 
called:  “If  I  perish  I  perish !” 

Our  Lord  declared  as  in  one  breath  both  facts,  as 
to  His  own  betrayal  and  crucifixion:  “The  son  of 
man  goeth  as  it  is  written  of  Him; 

“But  woe  unto  that  man  by  whom  the  son  of  man 
is  betrayed.” 

Nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  our  Lord’s 
death  in  all  its  details  was  foreseen  and  foretold  by 
prophets;  yet,  at  every  step  the  chief  priests  and 
Judas  planned  and  plotted;  the  traitor  made  his 
own  bargain  and  had  his  own  way.  Men,  whether 
servants  of  God  or  slaves  of  Satan,  are  bound  by 
no  inexorable  necessity.  God  controls,  but  does  not 
compel.  He  leaves  all  to  their  own  choice,  so  that 
they  act  without  undue  constraint.  Their  acts  are 
their  own.  Mordecai  uses  arguments;  he  sends 
word  to  Esther  that  danger  impends  and  may  en¬ 
gulf  her  with  her  people;  that  it  may  be  that  God 
has  put  her  on  the  throne  to  sway  events  at  this 
crisis,  and  that,  if  she  does  not  interpose,  He  will 
find  some  other  deliverer.  But  it  is  plain  that  she 
calmly,  prayerfully  makes  her  decision  and  carries 

409 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


out  her  own  purpose,  as  freely  as  though  there  were 
no  Sovereign  God. 

VI.  Again,  God’s  Providence  is  exact  in  its 
awards. 

“The  Lord  is  known  by  the  judgment  which  He 
executeth ; 

“The  wicked  is  snared  in  the  work  of  his  own 
hands”  (Psalm  ix:i6). 

“The  Lord  is  a  God  of  knowledge,  and  by  Him 
actions  are  weighed”  (i  Sam.  ii  13) . 

Here  are  two  comprehensive  statements:  one  is 
that  God  holds  the  Scales  of  Judgment,  in  which, 
with  infinitely  accurate  discrimination,  all  actions 
are  weighed.  This  sublimely  awful  thought  reaches 
its  climax  in  the  handwriting  on  the  wall  of  Bel¬ 
shazzar’s  palace :  “Tekel :  Thou  art  weighed  in  the 
Balances  and  found  wanting”  (Daniel  Om¬ 

niscience  discerns  all  human  activities,  even  to  the 
thoughts,  and  with  exactness  weighs  them  in  just 
talances  of  judgment.  The  other  passage  teaches 
that  God,  in  judgment  exactly  balances  crime  and 
penalty.  A  singular  phrase  is  commonly  used  to  ex¬ 
press  this — “poetic  retribution.”  As  in  poetic  lines 
there  is  a  close  correspondence  in  rhythm  and 
rhyme,  the  metrical  feet  and  even  the  sounds  of 
words  responding  one  to  the  other,  so  there  is  a 
rhythm  and  rhyme  between  the  movements  of  men 
in  history  and  the  movements  of  God  in  judgment; 
in  this  life  poem  man  writes  a  line  with  the  pen  of 
action ;  God  writes  another  with  the  pen  of  retribu- 

4T0 


The  Problem  of  Providence. 


tion,  and  the  two  exactly  and  awfully  correspond. 
The  wicked  is  snared  in  the  work  of  his  own  hands. 
He  digs  a  pit  and  is  the  first  to  fall  into  it. 

This  law  and  fact  of  Judgment  is  singularly  illus¬ 
trated  in  this  book  of  Esther.  No  one  object  stands 
more  conspicuous  in  the  narrative  than  the  huge 
gibbet  that  Haman  built  for  Mordecai  (v:i/j.).  In 
his  malice  and  hate  he  could  think  of  nothing  too 
humiliating  and  disgraceful  for  the  Jew  he  hated; 
and  he  erected  a  gallows  tree,  fifty  cubits  high 
(about  eighty  feet),  the  height  intended  to  intensify 
the  disgrace  and  publish  it  to  all  observers,  and  Ha¬ 
man  counted  his  power  to  be  equal  to  accomplishing 
his  enemy’s  ruin  so  speedily  that  he  could  venture  to 
build  the  gallows  one  day  and  hang  him  on  it  the 
next.  Yet  God  so  timed  the  tide  of  events  that  the 
first  culprit  that  hung  on  that  gibbet  was  the  man 
that  built  it,  and,  shortly  after,  his  ten  sons,  who  un¬ 
doubtedly  were  his  abettors  in  his  foul  plot,  were 
suspended  from  the  same  tree  of  shame. 

The  Jewish  scribes  especially  struck  with  this 
instance  of  poetic  retribution,  in  transcribing  the 
book  of  Esther,  have  left  a  curious  trace  of  their 
discernment.  The  ten  names  (in  Chapter  ix:7,  8,  9), 
are  written  on  three  perpendicular  columns  of  re¬ 
spectively  three,  three  and  four,  like  bodies,  strung 
up,  on  three  parallel  cords,  one  above  another;  and 
in  the  Targum  of  Esther,  in  Walton’s  Polyglott,  a 
minute  account  is  published  of  the  exact  position 
of  Haman  and  his  sons  on  the  gallows,  Haman  at 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


the  top,  and  his  ten  sons  in  one  line  below,  at  inter¬ 
vals  of  half  a  cubit,  and  so  their  names  are  printed 
in  the  Hebrew  Old  Testament;  at  the  right  of  the 
page  and  on  ten  successive  lines  thus,  reading  from 
left  to  right  and  then  back  again  from  right  to 
left: 


And 

And 

And 

And 

And 

And 

And 

And 

And 

And 


Parshandatha, 

Dalphon, 

Aspatha, 

Poratha, 

Adalia, 

Aridatha, 

Parmashta, 

Arisai, 

Aridai, 

Vajezatha. 


Another  example  of  this  poetic  exactness  in  retribu¬ 
tion  is  seen  in  the  way  in  which  Haman  fell  into 
a  second  snare.  Just  as  he  was  come  into  the  King’s 
court,  to  obtain  the  decree  for  Mordecai’s  hanging, 
the  King  asked  him  what  would  be  a  fitting  way  to 
honor  the  man  whom  he  delighted  to  favor.  And, 
thinking  that  he  himself  was  the  king’s  favorite, 
he  prescribed  a  grand  programme — such  favorite 
mounted  on  the  king’s  own  charger,  robed  in  royal 
apparel  and  even  crowned  with  the  royal  diadem, 
should  be  marched  in  procession  through  the  streets 
by  one  of  the  noblest  princes  of  the  realm  with  a 

412 


The  Problem  of  Providence. 


proclamation :  “Thus  shall  it  be  done  unto  the  man 
whom  the  king  delighteth  to  honor !” 

“Make  haste/’  responds  the  king,  and  do  thou 
even  so  to — MORDECAI !  This  is  one  of  those 
instances  in  which  the  Providential  award  is  so  ex¬ 
act  that  it  strikes  one  like  a  stroke  of  grim  humor, 
and  reminds  of  those  words  in  Psalm  ii,  “the  Lord 
shall  have  them  in  derision!” 

VII.  Last  of  all,  this  Providence  of  God  is  not 
always  an  apparent  fact;  God  is  not  always  a  visible 
Actor,  but  always  at  work. 

Much  has  been  said  in  objection  to  this  book  that 
it  does  not  contain  once  the  name  of  God  nor  any  di¬ 
rect  reference  to  Him.  Some  Jewish  commentators 
account  for  this  by  the  fact  that  the  book  was  in¬ 
tended  partly  for  gentile  readers;  but  a  far  more 
satisfactory  reason  is  that  it  is  designed  to  remind 
us  that,  in  Providential  working,  He  always  moves 
in  secrecy  and  mystery;  the  Hand  that  guides  is  a 
Hidden  Hand. 

Power,  however,  commanding  and  controlling, 
does  not  always  visibly  operate.  The  stage  manager 
and  scene  shifter  in  a  theatre  are  not  seen,  but  in 
the  drama  the  effects  of  their  activity  appear.  In 
this  short  narrative,  in  nearly  two  hundred  cases 
the  king  is  referred  to,  and  in  thirty,  his  name  ap¬ 
pears.  Twenty-six  times  His  Kingdom  is  spoken 
of;  but  while  the  name  of  God  is  not  found  from 
beginning  to  end,  the  agency  of  God  is  obviously 
back  of  the  whole  movement  of  affairs.  He  uses 

413 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


the  natural  working  of  the  minds  of  men,  and  the 
natural  course  of  events,  to  accomplish  a  supernat¬ 
ural  design.  Without  any  ostensible  interposition  the 
Hidden  Hand  is  moving  and  shifting  everything. 

Some  have  found  the  name  of  Jehovah  in  the 
book  of  Esther,  curiously  inwoven  in  the  fabric  of 
the  story,  in  acrostic  form ,  four  times,  and  at  the 
pivotal  points  in  the  narrative.  In  each  case  the 
words  whose  letters  furnish  the  acrostic  are  consec¬ 
utive,  though  in  construction  unlike  ;  two  of  them 
form  the  name  by  initial  and  two  by  final  letters; 
in  two  cases  the  name  is  spelt  backwards,  and  in  two 
forwards ;  even  these  minor  peculiarities  correspond¬ 
ing  to  the  movement  of  events;  in  some  cases  the 
events  are  initial,  and  in  others  final;  in  some  the 
movement  is  onward,  and  in  others  backward,  and 
the  acrostics  in  every  case  correspond. 

Dr.  E.  W.  Bullinger,  at  a  congress  of  orientalists, 
held  at  Stockholm,  read  a  paper  in  which  he  recited 
the  above  facts.  The  massorah  has  a  rubric,  calling 
attention  to  the  four  passages,  and,  in  three  ancient 
manuscripts,  the  letters  forming  these  acrostics  are 
written  large,  so  as  to  be  conspicuous.  We  con¬ 
struct  four  couplets,  in  which  the  capital  letters  of 
the  word  L-O-R-D  may  shew  how  the  four  letters 
of  the  Hebrew  name  for  Jehovah  are  curiously  em¬ 
bedded  in  the  very  structure  of  the  narrative. 

Due  Respect  Our  Ladies,  all 

Shall  give  husbands,  great  and  small  (i:2o). 

414 


The  Problem  of  Providence. 


“Let  Our  Royal  Dinner  bring 
Haman,  feasting  with  the  king”  (v:4). 

“GranD  foR  nO  avaiL  my  state, 

While  this  Jew  sits  at  the  gate”  (v:i3). 

‘TIL  tO  feaR  decreeD,  I  find, 

Toward  me  in  the  monarch’s  mind”  (vii:7). 

These  are  the  only  such  acrostics  in  the  book,  and 
cannot  be  there  by  accident.* 

But  it  will  be  plain  that  no  such  acrostical  ar¬ 
rangement  could  ever  be  the  result  of  chance. 

Nevertheless,  no  careless,  cursory  reader  would 
ever  find  this  hidden  name,  just  as  such  never  would 
detect  other  rich  suggestions,  concealed  in  the 
Scriptures,  which,  like  veins  of  gold  and  silver  dis¬ 
close  their  wealth  only  to  those  who  devoutly  search 
as  for  hidden  treasure. 

VIII.  The  grand  conclusion  is :  Divine  Providence 
excludes  all  mere  chance.  This  is  the  supreme  lesson 
of  this  book.  These  events  are  celebrated  as  the 
Feast  of  Purim,  and  Purim  means  “Lot,”  because 
Haman  had  cast  the  lot  in  connection  with  the  plot 

*If  any  one  tries  to  construct  sentences  with  such  acros¬ 
tics  hidden  in  them,  he  will  find  it  requires  unusual  study. 
I  tried  thus  to  incorporate  the  word  “Rome”  in  a  sup¬ 
posed  telegram,  from  a  man  who  has  bought  a  villa  on  the 
Thames  and  invites  his  brother  to  come  over  on  Easter 
Monday  and  have  a  row  with  him  on  the  river.  The  four 
recurrences  of  the  acrostic  will  be  noted  by  the  capitals. 

“Run  Over  Monday  Evening.  Enjoy  Morning  On  River. 
TakE  traM  tO  dooR,  numbeR  twO  durhaM  terracE.” 

415 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


for  the  Jews’  destruction.  But,  as  the  issue  shows, 
though  “the  lot  is  cast  into  the  lap,  the  whole  dis¬ 
posing  thereof  is  of  the  Lord”  (Prov.  xvi  133),  and 
so  they  kept  the  Feast  of  Purim,  as  the  Feast  of 
Providence.  What  to  men  was  chance,  to  God  was 
choice . 

In  the  accompanying  Diagram  (X)  the  leading 
facts  and  truths  concerning  the  Providence  of  God 
are  presented  in  successive  sections,  each  showing 
a  double  truth  with  its  seeming  paradox: 

First,  the  present  mystery:  the  good  often  in  ad¬ 
versity,  and  the  evil  prosperous,  triumphant,  and 
arrogant.  Next,  the  perplexing  contradiction:  God 
as  a  Sovereign,  working  as  He  will,  and  man,  as  a 
free  agent,  choosing  and  acting  for  himself.  Then, 
a  third  marvel,  the  comprehensiveness  of  the  Plan 
of  God,  embracing  all  history  with  all  its  actors,  ac¬ 
tions,  and  ages  of  time;  making  even  the  most  mi¬ 
nute  details  tributary  to  its  ultimate  completion. 
Still,  beyond  this,  the  purpose  of  a  wise  and  loving 
God  marching  on  toward  its  goal,  despite  all  oppo¬ 
sition,  and  with  divine  skill  turning  to  good  even 
what  men  and  demons  mean  for  evil,  so  that  even 
the  malice  of  foes  works  final  victory  for  God. 
Again,  the  exactness  of  Divine  awards  is  exhibited 
in  the  poetic  precision  with  which  both  evil  and  good 
receive  their  retribution  and  reward,  according  to 
their  deserts.  And  so  we  reach  that  stage  of  final 
adjustment,  where  there  is  perfect  harmony  between 
Condition  and  character.  The  grand  conclusion  is 

416 


VJI.f/mi  co/vctus/o/v^ 

* 

\  No  Chenee-Behind ail  is  choice  of  God. 

;  A/o  v/s/b/e  control.  A  Hidden  Hand. 

VJ.OLT/MATI/tmHSAlS} 

|  The  Good  in  Prospenity . 

[  The  Bad  in  Adversity. 

V  PERFECT ADrtfWTXATtCN. 

;  Exact  Reward  to  Human  Virtue % 

[Poetic  Retribution  to  Evil  Doers . 

fV.PMV/£)MCffi£SJSn£$s\ 

\Benevoient  Plan  Steadily  Advancing, 
[Ma/iceo/foes  turned  to  Pis  £nds. 

M.  coMMteMuts/venAN;  j 

[  £ntDracingaii Agents,  Acts  andAges. 

[  Weaving  Minutest  7hreadsintoPian. 

n.  A  S£COND  PARADOX:  | 

\  Goo  controlllny  as  Sovereign. 

[plan  a  Self-determining  Tree  Aye/it. 

J.THE  PRESENT  PARADOX:' 

[  The  Coon  in  Adversity, 

\jhe  Bad  in  Prosperity.  j 

The  Problem  of  Providence. 


that,  while  there  is  no  visible  interposition  of  God, 
His  Hand,  though  hidden,  holds  the  helm  of  affairs, 
and  there  is  no  such  thing  as  chance. 

That  is  a  sublime  truth,  not  always  clearly  vindi¬ 
cated  in  this  world,  that  “God  is  no  respecter  of 
persons’'  (Acts  x:34).  Inequalities  and  inequities 
there  are,  but  all  of  them  will  have  ultimate  judicial 
adjustment.  Many  things  which  make  the  ways  of 
the  Lord  seem  unequal  are  due  to  human  perversity, 
the  inequalities  being  of  man’s  making,  and  many 
others  may  find  a  remedy  in  grace.  All  disadvant¬ 
ages  have  doubtless  natural  offsets,  as  well  as  gra¬ 
cious  compensations,  as  in  case  of  the  deaf  saint, 
who  thanked  God  that  for  twenty  years  she  had  not 
heard  a  malicious,  uncharitable,  or  impatient  word ! 
If  there  are  different  allotments  and  measures  of 
endowment  and  opportunity,  so  are  there  different 
degrees  of  reward,  determined  not  by  what  we  have, 
but  how  we  use  it,  so  that  the  great  question  is  not 
one  of  entrustment  but  of  improvement.  God  asks 
only  that  we  do  our  best  and  wait  for  the  end  of  all 
things,  for  our  reward  and  His  vindication.  The 
Judgment  Seat  of  Christ  and  the  great  White 
Throne  will  finally  solve  all  problems,  right  all 
wrongs,  and  adjust  all  that  is  unequal  and  inequita¬ 
ble. 

Some  important  facts  belong  to  this  Revelation  of 
Providence : 

I.  The  present  age  is  confessedly  one  of  mystery. 
In  a  sense,  men  are  designedly  left  to  themselves. 

417 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


God  practically  withdraws  from  the  scene,  that  the 
experiment  of  man’s  self-guidance  and  self-failure 
may  be  complete.  In  Eden  He  gave  man  dominion 
over  all  the  visible  world,  and  His  own  intimate 
and  personal  Fellowship,  on  but  one  condition,  that 
he  should  submit  to  Divine  Control.  The  prohibi¬ 
tion  as  to  the  tree  of  knowledge  was  in  a  sense  ar¬ 
bitrary — no  reason  for  this  one  restriction  being 
given  that  it  might  be  the  more  a  test  of  man’s  will¬ 
ingness  to  accept  the  Will  of  God,  for  His  guidance, 
even  where  he  could  see  no  adequate  ground  for 
the  command,  and  where  Reason  might  argue  that 
it  was  a  restraint  on  his  truer  liberty.  Man  then 
chose  his  ozvn  will ,  and,  ever  since  then,  God  has 
been  trying  him  on  the  old  issue,  and  all  approaches 
to  Eden,  even  on  the  part  of  disciples,  are  hindered 
by  the  same  old  self-zvill.  This  trial  is  to  go  on,  un¬ 
til  the  will  of  man  completely  and  finally  bows  to  the 
Will  of  God — 'and,  in  order  to  a  fair  experiment, 
God  meanwhile  keeps  silence  and  seems  inactive — 
for,  if  at  once  judgment  followed  evil  deeds  fear 
would  restrain  man’s  liberty.  “Sentence  against  an 
evil  work  is  not  executed  speedily”  (Eccles.  viii  :i i ) . 
There  is  a  mystery  of  delay,  but  it  is  in  order  to  the 
present  result — the  unfettered  action  of  man,  and 
the  final  result — the  ultimate  blending  of  man’s  will 
with  that  of  God. 

2.  Consequently  the  Future  alone  can  be  the  final 
and  full  solution  of  the  mystery  of  Providence.  Af¬ 
ter  man  has  carried  his  rebellion  against  God  to  the 

418 


The  Problem  of  Providence. 


full,  and  the  experiment  of  self-will  has  demon¬ 
strated  its  insane  folly;  when  man  has  shown  even 
to  himself  and  his  fellowman  his  incapacity  for  self- 
government,  God  will  proceed  to  reveal  His  own 
Judicial  character.  He  will  take  His  seat  on  what 
now  appears  to  be  a  vacated  Throne  of  Judgment , 
and  then  will  begin  the  ultimate  assizes.  Of  course 
that  will  be  a  Day  of  Terror  to  the  wicked,  who  will 
meet  exact,  impartial,  inevitable  and  irreversible 
judgment.  Retribution  will  be  poetically  exact; 
“ whatsoever  wrong”  any  man  has  done  “that  same 
will  he  receive  of  Lord,  whether  he  be  bond  or  free, 
and  there  is  no  respect  of  persons.”  The  Lord  God 
will  then  be  seen  to  be  a  “God  of  knowledge  by 
whom  actions  are  weighed ;”  and  “the  Lord  God  of 
recompenses  who  will  surely  requite.”  The  judg¬ 
ment  of  Belshazzar  was  typical  of  this  Last  day — 
every  man  “weighed  in  the  balances,”  and  woe  to 
him  who  is  “found  wanting;”  for  his  kingdom, 
though  world-wide,  will  be  divided  and  given  to 
others;  God  will  number  his  kingdom  and  finish  it. 

But  Terror  is  not  the  only  aspect  of  that  day.  It 
is  even  more  a  day  of  supernal  glory,  as  expressed  in 
the  great  White  Throne ;  for  it  will  be  the  final  vin¬ 
dication  of  God.  He  will  come  out  of  hiding  and 
shew  himself  strong  in  behalf  of  him  who  has  wait¬ 
ed  for  Him.  That  will  be  the  Righting  of  the  wrong 
of  the  ages.  The  church  that,  like  a  widow,  plead¬ 
ing  vainly  before  an  unjust  judge,  has  suffered  from 
long  deferred  hope,  will  find  an  Avenger  who  will 

419 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


rid  her  of  her  adversary  speedily  and  finally.  Every 
drop  of  martyr’s  blood,  all  the  centuries  of  slavery’s 
unredressed  horrors,  will  be  compensated — the  feet 
of  the  oppressed  will  be  on  the  necks  of  their  op¬ 
pressors  ;  the  victims  of  the  Inquisition  will  see  their 
torturers  on  the  rack;  the  rich  plunderers  will  be 
reduced  to  eternal  beggary  and  the  beggars  be  made 
princes.  That  day  will  explain  God’s  long  silence 
and  hiding  of  Himself ;  His  inaction  was  not  due  to 
indifference.  God  was  not  dead. 

3.  The  Last  Day  will  also  reveal  how  God  has 
been  speaking,  even  in  the  silence,  and  working, 
even  in  apparent  inaction — that  even  the  present  age 
is  the  scene  of  a  Judicial  Providence.  All  future 
retribution  and  reward  have  their  forecasts  and 
foretastes  in  this  life,  not  completely  and  fully,  but 
partially  and  by  way  of  anticipation.  In  Ephesians 
vi  :8  and  Colossians  iii :  17  are  two  statements  which, 
being  combined,  express  a  full  truth,  that  whatever 
good  or  wrong  thing  any  man  doeth  that  same  shall 
he  receive  of  the  Lord  whether  he  be  bond  or  free, 
and  there  is  no  respect  of  persons. 

The  operation  of  this  double  law  may  be  seen, 
even  now.  Who  that  leads  another  astray  does  not  go 
himself  astray?  Who  teaches  another  to  lie  or  deceive 
without  sinking  lower  in  lying  and  treachery?  No 
one  can  debauch  another’s  imagination  without  find¬ 
ing  his  own  becoming  a  chamber  of  horrors ;  or  tam¬ 
per  with  another’s  purity  without  becoming  the  prey 
of  his  own  passions.  To  eat  at  the  vitals  of  another’s 

420 


The  Problem  of  Providence. 


life  and  virtue  is  to  feed  a  vulture  that  shall  gnaw  at 
one’s  own  heart,  and  he  who  forges  a  chain  for 
another’s  neck,  fastens  the  other  end  of  the  chain 
about  his  own.  Just  as  truly  he  who  seeks  to  up¬ 
lift  the  fallen,  becomes  strong  himself  to  stand 
alone ;  he  who  teaches  ignorance  himself  learns  wis¬ 
dom;  he  who  guides  another  in  perplexity  sees  his 
own  way  better ;  he  who  strengthens  another’s  weak 
purpose  is  mixing  iron  with  his  own  blood.  What¬ 
soever  good  or  wrong  *  *  *  that  same  he  re¬ 

ceives.  Call  it  natural  law  or  divine  decree,  as  you 
will,  it  is  so  and  the  Spirit  of  God  says  it  is  “of  the 
Lord.” 

Before  dismissing  this  great  theme,  there  are  a 
few  instructive  and  consolatory  lessons,  which  its 
study  suggests: 

i.  There  is  a  Divine  and  Sovereign  Ruler.  He 
supervises  all  worlds  and  creatures.  Beings  of  all 
grades  and  ranks  are  subject  to  His  control,  and  the 
blind  forces  of  nature  are  guided  by  His  all-seeing 
and  far-seeing  eye.  Psalm  civ  represents  Him  as 
the  God  of  Nature,  using  light  as  a  garment  and 
the  clouds  as  a  curtain;  winds  and  waters,  fire  and 
flood,  lightning  and  tempest,  His  obedient  servants. 
In  that  inspired  song  some  thirty  features  of  nature, 
animate  and  inanimate,  are  presented  as  subserving 
His  ends.  Isaiah  (liv:i6)  tells  us  that  He  has  cre¬ 
ated  even  “the  waster  to  destroy;”  the  destructive, 
as  well  as  constructive  elements  and  agents  in  the 
universe,  are  His  creatures  and  execute  His  behests. 

jf 

J2J 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


Joel  grandly  makes  the  insect  world  an  army  mar¬ 
shalled  in  detachments,  and  marching  under  His 
generalship:  “The  locust,  the  cankerworm,  and  the 
caterpillar,  and  the  palmerworm.  My  great  army 
which  I  sent  among  you”  (ii  125) . 

2.  His  universal  Providence  includes  all  particu¬ 
lars.  All  general  supervision  implies  specific  and 
minute  oversight.  The  book  of  Jonah  incidentally 
teaches  this  lesson  of  special  providence.  The  Lord 
is  represented  as  sending  out  a  great  wind  into  the 
sea,  so  that  there  was  a  mighty  tempest ;  as  prepar¬ 
ing  a  great  fish  to  swallow  Jonah;  as  speaking  unto 
the  fish,  so  that  it  vomited  him  out  upon  the  dry 
land;  as  preparing  a  gourd,  and  preparing  a  worm 
to  smite  the  gourd;  and  as  preparing  a  vehement 
east  wind  so  that  the  sun  beat  upon  his  unsheltered 
head.  Nowhere  else  is  such  pains  taken  to  trace 
such  natural  occurrences  to  the  special  act  of  God, 
“sending,”  “preparing”  “speaking.” 

3.  God  is  indifferent  to  no  concern  of  His  people. 
He  gives  to  every  hair  its  number,  and  to  every  drop 
of  blood  its  value ;  He  who  forgets  not  the  odd  spar¬ 
row,  or  the  lily  of  the  field,  calls  by  name  His  own 
sheep  as  an  oriental  shepherd  calls  every  one  of  his 
thousands  of  sheep  by  name  as  the  flock  passes  the 
watering  trough  or  the  door  of  the  fold.  Jesus 
“loved  Martha  and  her  sister  and  Lazarus” — what 
lovely  individualizing!  It  was  not  enough  to  say, 
“He  loved  the  family  at  Bethany,”  but  each  member 
of  it  must  be  specified. 


422 


The  Problem  of  Providence. 


The  ciii  Psalm  beautifully  records  that,  “like  as  a 
father  pitieth  his  children,  so  the  Lord  pitieth  them 
that  fear  Him.  For  He  knoweth  our  frame ;  He  re- 
membereth  that  we  are  dust.” 

As  an  intelligent  father  studies  the  peculiarities  of 
his  children,  knowing  their  weaknesses,  and  having 
regard  to  them  in  the  food  he  gives  each  and  the 
burdens  he  lays  on  each ;  so  the  Lord  who  made  us 
and  knows  our  “frame” — -how  we  are  put  together, 
all  the  weak  points  in  the  framework — will,  in  all 
His  dealings,  remember  and  regard  all  our  inabilities 
and  incapacities. 

4.  God's  Providence  assures  the  supply  of  every 
want  (Philip  iv:i9).  The  only  thing  we  need  to 
care  for  is  the  supreme  object:  “Seek  first  the  King¬ 
dom  of  God  and  His  righteousness.”  Not  only  are 
we  not  hidden  to  seek  the  lower  good,  but  we  are 
forbidden  to  seek  it.  We  are  to  be  anxious  about 
nothing,  but,  seeking  the  higher  trust,  for  the  lower. 
There  are  but  few  who  dare  thus  to  depend;  but 
those  who  do,  find  it  more  restful  and  joyful  than  to 
depend  on  stocks  in  the  most  prosperous  business, 
or  hoards  in  the  safest  bank  vaults. 

5.  Providence  includes  also  protection.  Duty 
never  involves  real  danger;  the  only  risk  is  in  not 
doing  duty.  “Who  is  he  that  will  harm  you  if  ye 
be  followers  of  that  which  is  good?”  (1  Peter 
iii  :i3 ) .  The  Ninety-first  Psalm  is  the  triumphant 
song  of  immunity  from  peril  of  all  sorts,  and  its  only 
explanation  is  that  the  secret  chamber  of  this  secu- 

423 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


rity  is  the  Will  of  God .  To  him  who  simply  ac¬ 
cepts  that  Will  as  his  strong  tower  of  refuge,  there 
is  no  risk,  and  can  be  none.  “According  to  your 
faith  be  it  unto  you but,  as  Robert  Brown  says,  he 
that  searches  his  Bible  will  find  that  in  effect  God 
also  says,  “according  to  your  unbelief ,  be  it  unto 
you.”  Dr.  Baedeker,  in  his  frequent  journeys  among 
European  prisons,  exposed  to  countless  dangers  for 
forty  years,  tested  that  Psalm,  and  found  it  literally 
true. 

6.  Personal  Direction  is  also  implied .  To  many  a 
child  of  God  those  words  have  been  at  once  com¬ 
pass,  rudder  and  anchor,  in  sailing  out  upon  life’s 
treacherous  sea: 

“Trust  in  the  Lord  with  all  thine  heart;  and  lean 
not  unto  thine  own  understanding.  In  all  thy  ways 
acknowledge  Him,  and  He  shall  direct  thy  paths” 
(Prov.  iii  :6). 

That  text  was  given  to  the  writer  by  his  father, 
in  boyhood,  as  a  life  motto,  and  since  then  no  im¬ 
portant  step  has  been  taken  without  waiting  for  di¬ 
vine  leading,  and  never  in  vain.  We  can  afford  to 
wait  as  long  as  He  can,  for  it  is  His  work,  way,  and 
time  that  are  of  all  consequence.  If,  therefore,  guid¬ 
ance  does  not  at  once  come,  it  is  safer  to  wait  till  it 
does ;  a  step  taken  too  soon  may  be  a  step  taken 
amiss. 

7.  Personal  Vindication  is  also  involved .  When 
wrongfully  assailed,  one  has  only  to  keep  quiet  and 
commit  the  whole  matter  to  God,  instead  of  un- 

424 


The  Problem  of  Providence. 


dertaking  self-defense.  He  may  have  to  wait  some 
time  for  God’s  vindication,  but  it  will  come,  if  the 
cause  be  committed  to  Him,  for  whenever  His  saints 
are  falsely  accused,  He  is,  and  their  defense  is  His 
own.  The  Psalmist  describes  the  snares  set  for  his 
feet,  and  the  mischievous  slanders  uttered  about 
him ;  but  he  tells  us  he  was  as  one  deaf  and  dumb — 
he  acted  as  though  he  neither  saw  nor  heard  any¬ 
thing;  and  his  reason  was: 

“For  in  THEE,  O  LORD,  do  I  hope”  (Psalm 
xxxviii). 

A  venerable  Saint,  recently  departed,  gave  as  the 
sober  retrospect  of  eighty  years,  mostly  spent  in 
public  life,  “I  have  often  been  wrongfully  attacked, 
but  have  never  attempted  to  defend  myself.  I  have 
borne  in  silence  and  committed  my  cause  to  God; 
and  there  has  never  been  a  wrong  done  me  that 
has  not  been  rectified,  nor  a  blow  aimed  at  me 
which  has  not  recoiled  on  him  who  dealt  it.” 

3.  Once  more,  Providential  compensations  often 
follow  even  in  this  life.  Even  here,  as  in  the  story 
of  Esther,  there  is  a  striking  reversal  of  conditions, 
so  that  out  of  calamity,  blessing  is  born. 

In  public  discussion,  G.  J.  Holyoake  challenged 
Dr.  Joseph  Parker  to  show  any  “Providence”  in 
Stephen’s  death.  He  promptly  answered,  “He  en¬ 
abled  Stephen  to  say,  ‘Lord,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their 
charge.’  ”  He  might  have  added  that  it  was  that 
death  which  gave  to  the  church  the  apostle  Paul, 
and  in  so  doing  perhaps  contributed  more  to  the 


425 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


permanent  blessing  of  mankind  than  any  other  sin¬ 
gle  event  of  like  character  in  all  history.  In  a  true 
sense  they  knew  not  what  they  did  who  stoned 
Stephen.  The  light  on  his  face  as  he  fell  asleep  left 
such  impression  on  Saul  of  Tarsus  that  he  never 
forgave  himself  for  his  part  in  that  transaction,  and 
this  first  sight  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  the  face  of  the 
martyr,  and  through  the  martyr  who  solemnly  af* 
firmed,  “I  see  heaven  opened  and  Jesus  standing  on 
the  right  hand  of  God” — prepared  Saul  for  the  Rev¬ 
elation  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  the  way.  Moreover  the 
death  of  Stephen  became  the  key  to  a  new  interpre¬ 
tation  of  death.  ,Henceforth  the  word  passed  from 
the  vocabularly  of  the  early  saints — ;witness  the  six 
million  tombs  in  the  Catacombs.  Stephen’s  death 
began  the  new  era  !* 

Missionary  history  reveals  this  compensation  on 
a  large  scale,  as  when  John  Williams  was  clubbed 
to  death  on  Erromanga’s  beach,  in  1839,  and  fifty 
years  later,  the  son  of  his  murderer  unveiled  his 
monument;  or  as  when  Bishop  Hannington  was 
shot  by  Lubwa,  and  his  son  afterward  baptized  the 
son  of  Lubwa.  But,  more  astonishing,  was  the  se¬ 
ries  of  events,  between  1871  and  1885,  in  African 
missions.  Within  those  fourteen  years  there  passed 
away  some  of  the  greatest  of  all  modem  mission¬ 
aries  :  Patteson,  Livingstone  and  Krapf,  Moffat  and 
Hannington — three  of  them  martyrs.  But  there 

♦Comp.  Acts  vii  and  ix — the  marked  correspondence 
between  Stephen's  vision  and  Saul's! 

426 


The  Problem  of  Providence. 


never  were  such  years  of  marvellous  progress.  Patte- 
son’s  death  aroused  all  Christendom  to  stop  the  crime 
of  kidnapping  and  other  forms  of  slave  trade.  The 
death  of  Livingstone  prompted  heroic  effort  to  heal 
that  open  sore  of  the  world,  and  cover  the  Dark  Con¬ 
tinent  with  a  chain  of  missions.  The  old  slave  mar¬ 
ket  at  Zanzibar  became  the  site  of  the  Universities’ 
Mission,  and  where  the  whipping  post  stood  the 
Lord’s  Table  now  stands. 

Read  with  open  eyes,  History  is  aflame  with  God, 
and  the  undevout  historian,  like  the  undevout  as¬ 
tronomer,  is  mad.  Columbus  was  heading  for  North 
America,  until  driftwood  in  the  sea  and  paroquets 
in  the  air  diverted  him  to  the  south,  and  saved 
North  America  from  the  blight  of  papacy.  One 
more  day’s  delay  and  Mormonism  would  have  spread 
its  curse  over  California  in  1847.  A  few  hours’  de¬ 
lay  in  the  arrival  of  the  “Monitor,”  in  1862,  and 
the  navy  cf  the  United  States  would  have  been  de¬ 
stroyed  in  Hampton  Roads;  and  the  war  for  the 
Union  never  turned  successfully  until  the  man  at 
the  White  House  got  right  with  God  about  the  free¬ 
ing  of  four  million  slaves. 

Britain  escaped  the  Spanish  Armada  in  1858,  be¬ 
cause  “the  stars  in  the  heavens  fought  against  Sis- 
era,”  so  that  out  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  vessels 
and  thirty  thousand  soldiers  and  seamen,  fifty  shat¬ 
tered  ships  and  eight  thousand  men  found  their  way 
back. 

When  Napoleon  was  reminded  by  Madame  de 


427 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


Stael,  as  he  started  for  Russia,  that  “circumstances 
might  be  against  him/’  he  boastingly  replied,  “I 
make  circumstances.”  But,  when  out  of  his  vast 
host,  scarce  a  tenth  found  Frances  against,  he  dis¬ 
covered  that  there  is  One,  higher  than  man,  who 
can  marshal  the  snowflakes  and  ice  crystals  to  do 
His  bidding.  “Who  can  stand  before  His  cold?” 

Believer,  yours  is  a  sublime  peace!  Psalm  xcix:i 
should  read: 

“Let  the  people  tremble:  The  Lord  reigneth! 

“Let  the  earth  stagger:  He,  between  the  cheru¬ 
bim,  sits  firm!” 

THE  EPIC  OF  ESTHER. 

Back  of  all  that  foes  have  plotted; 

All  that  friends  of  God  have  planned; 

Human  schemes,  or  work  of  demons. 

Moves  a  higher  Hidden  Hand! 

Man's  horizon  is  but  finite; 

Present  mysteries  ensnare  : 

Wrongs  in  vain  seek  an  Avenger; 

Hope  is  tempted  to  despair. 

But,  in  God’s  eternal  Future, 

The  exact  and  full  reward 

Will  reveal  the  even  balance 
In  the  Judgments  of  the  Lord. 

Through  the  mystic  fabric,  woven 
On  the  great  Historic  Loom, 

Runs  one  golden  threat  of  Purpose, 

Not  the  iron  threat  of  Doom. 

428 


The  Problem  of  Providence. 


Warp  and  woof  are  heaven’s  making, 
All  the  pattern,  good  and  wise; 

On  the  earth  side,  strange,  perplexing; 

Perfect  to  celestial  eyes. 

Every  act  and  every  actor, 

Great  and  little,  foe  or  friend, 

Like  converging  roads  of  Empire, 

To  one  Golden  Milestone  tend. 
Nothing  too  minute  to  enter 
Into  God’s  complete  design, 
Perfecting  the  forms  and  colors 
In  the  outline  so  divine. 

Yet  all  agents  act  with  freedom. 
Choosing,  whether  love  or  hate, 

Close  alliance,  bold  defiance, — 

None  are  helpless  slaves  to  FATE. 
Yet  the  Hand  that  guides  is  hidden, 
Moving  secret  and  unseen, 

Managing,  in  Life’s  great  drama, 
Every  act,  and  shifting  scene. 
Nothing  happens,  accidental, 

All  that  men  ascribe  to  Chance, 
Choice  of  God  has  first  determined; 

Nothing  can  escape  His  glance. 
Mortals  cast  their  lot,  and  gamble 
With  their  deeds,  as  their  dice ; 
Reckon  to  caprice  of  Fortune, 

All  their  virtue  or  their  vice ; 

But  the  wrath  of  man  unconscious. 
Serves  One  all-controlling  Will ; 


429 


/ 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

Man  proposes ;  God  disposes ; 

All  things  His  design  fulfil. 

This,  the  Goal  of  all  the  Ages ; 

Hither,  highways,  byways  tend; 

So,  despite  all  foes  and  factions, 

God  proves  victor  in  the  end. 

Man's  high  Festival  of  Purim, 

Read  by  Faith’s  illumined  sense, 

Shall  be  kept,  in  realms  eternal, 

As  the  Feast  of  PROVIDENCE. 


430 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  MYSTERY  OF  HISTORY. 

This  is  a  profound  mystery,  but  upon  it  the  Word 
of  God  throws  a  flood  of  light. 

1.  The  Beginning  of  all  History. 

“In  the  Beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and 
the  earth”  (Genesis  i:i). 

2.  The  Beginning  of  Man's  History. 

“God  created  man  in  His  own  image”  (i:27). 

3.  The  second  Beginning  of  Human  History. 
“And  Noah  went  forth,  and  his  sons,  and  his 

wife,  and  his  sons’  wives  with  him”  ( viii  :i8) . 

4.  The  Beginning  of  the  Chrisfs  earthly  history. 
“Unto  you  is  bom  this  day  in  the  city  of  David 

a  Saviour  which  is  Christ  the  Lord”  (Luke  ii:ii). 

5.  The  Beginning  of  the  Church’s  History. 

“The  Lord  added  to  the  church  daily”  (Acts 

11:47). 

6.  The  Beginning  of  the  Millennial  Age  of  His¬ 
tory. 

“When  the  Son  of  Man  shall  come  in  ,His  glory, 
*  *  *  Then  shall  He  sit  upon  the  throne  of  His 
glory”  (Matt.  xxv:3i). 


431 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

7.  The  Beginning  of  the  Final  Age — the  end  of 
History. 

“Then  cometh  the  end,  when  He  shall  have  de¬ 
livered  up  the  kingdom  to  God,  even  the  Father" 
(I  Cor.  xv  : 24 ). 

This  Mystery  of  History  can  be  understood  only 
in  the  light  of  our  other  Mysteries :  ( 1 )  that  of  the 
Dispensations;  (2)  of  the  Ages;  (3)  of  the  King¬ 
dom;  (4)  of  the  Two  Advents.  In  order  to  make 
th^  presentation  of  the  theme  as  complete  as  practi¬ 
cable  each  of  these  will  have  brief  treatment,  as 
subheads. 

I.  THE  AGES. 

How  august  and  majestically  mystical  the  Bib¬ 
lical  conception  of  God's  eternity,  hinted  in  that 
untranslatable  name,  “Jehovah,"  which  so  blends 
all  tenses  of  the  verb,  to  be,  as  to  suggest  a  Being 
Who,  as  to  all  ages  of  time,  can  equally  say,  “I 
AM,"  as  One  to  whom  there  is  properly  no  suc¬ 
cession  or  duration !  taking  in  all  ages,  as  the  ocean 
does  the  drops  of  water,  which  yet  form  an  in¬ 
significant  part  of  the  limitless  whole. 

Another  and  kindred  conception  is  that  all  the 
ages  are  His  Creation — the  worlds  of  Time,  or  dur¬ 
ation,  as  much  as  the  worlds  of  matter  or  space,  and 
the  worlds  of  life,  or  being.  God  was,  when  as  yet 
there  were  no  created  orbs,  beings  or  ages.  Hence, 
we  read  that  He  “made,"  and  “framed  the  eons" 


432 


* 


* 


■ 


. 


ETERNAL 

AGE 

St 

GOO 

the 

FATHER 

GOD  ALL  IN  ALL 

KINGDOM  f  UNDISPUTED 

IN  i  UNDIVIDED 

RESTORATION  l  UNIVERSAL 

AGE 

TO 

COME 

Transition?  Final  Revolt.  Last  Judgment.  New  Heavens  &c. 

GOO 

THE 

SOM 

KINGDOM  i 
IN  \ 

MANIFESTATION 

r  EXTERNAL 

PERSONAL  It  VISIBLE 

L  EXTENSIVE 

PRESENT 

EVIL 

AGE 

Transition:  Apostasy.  Man  of  Sin.  'Restoration  IsRAEuJSccond  ArfvtKr 

GOO 

the 

SPIRIT 

KINGDOM 

IN  i 

MYSTERY 

f  INTERNAL 

INVISIBLE 

L  INDIVIDUAL 

PAST 

AGE 

8.0. 

Transition?  Rejection  of  Christ.  Cross.  Ressur  recti  on.  Pentecost. 

THE  COO 

or 

THIS  WORLD 

KINGDOM 

IN 

USURPATION 

'  RACE  IN  BONDAGE 

ISRAEL  APOSTATE 
.  MESSIAH  REJECTED 

ETERNAL 

AGE 

A 

L= 

Transition:  Revolt  ofAngels.Temptation.  Fall  of  Man. 

GOO 

TRIUNE 

KINGDOM 

IN  \ 

PERFECTION 

GOD  i 

r  UNDISPUTED 

UNOI  VIDEO 
[  UNIVERSAL 

LLL  IN  ALL 

The  Mystery  of  History. 


(Heb.  1:2;  xi :3),  the  word  being  aion,  and,  as  Dr. 
Upham  suggests  should  be  rendered,  “time-world.” 
The  Creator  made,  and  put  together  as  in  a  struc¬ 
ture,  these  time-worlds,  framing  them  into  His  plan, 
as  stones  and  timbers  in  a  building,  or  bones  and 
muscles  in  a  body.  Architectural  form  implies  arch¬ 
itectural  plan :  a  foundation  age,  an  order  of  suc¬ 
cession  and  mutual  fitness ;  and  a  final  age  in  which 
all  culminate.  Where  else,  save  in  God’s  Word,  can 
such  a  conception  be  f ound  ? 

The  Mystery  of  History  is  naturally  linked  with 
that  of  prophecy.  He  to  whose  eye  all  time  is  a 
present  reality,  touches  the  eyes  of  His  servants,  and 
they  become  seers,  whose  backward  and  forward 
look  commands  the  past,  however  remote,  and  the 
future,  however  distant.  Prophecy  becomes  the 
mould,  of  which  History  is  the  medallion ;  the  same 
image  appears  in  both,  and  they  fit  together. 

The  accompanying  Diagram  (No.  XI)  outlines 
this  Programme  of  History,  its  five  sections  corre¬ 
sponding  to  the  five  “Ages,”  hinted  in  New  Testa¬ 
ment  Epistles:  “Before  the  Foundation  of  the 
World,”  “From  the  Beginning  of  the  World,”  “the 
present  evil  age,”  the  “age  which  is  to  come,”  and 
the  age  after  “the  End.”  These  are  both  scriptural 
divisions  and  designations  (Ephes.  1:4,  21;  ii  :2 ; 
iii:5,  21  »*  Gal.  1:4;  Heb.  ix:26,  etc.). 

First,  an  eternity  past,  before  time  began,  then  a 
second,  third  and  fourth  ages,  together  constituting 
“the  Times;”  then  a  future  eternity — the  omega, 

433 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


corresponding  to  the  alpha.  Thus  what  we  call, 
“History”  has  three  periods:  reaching  from  the 
first  man,  Adam,  to  the  Second  Man  and  last  Adam ; 
then  spanning  the  interval  between  the  two  advents 
of  Christ,  and  last,  the  Kingdom  Age,  or  Millen¬ 
nium. 

The  ages  are  all  associated  with  a  Kingdom :  first, 
that  of  the  Triune  God,  reigning  with  absolute,  un¬ 
disputed  authority.  Then,  at  man’s  creation,  he  was 
given  a  kingdom,  with  dominion  over  the  earth ;  but 
when  he  fell,  Satan  seized  his  sceptre,  and  by  right 
of  conquest  became  the  “God,”  or  “Prince,  of  this 
World.”  Then,  in  turn,  the  Second  Man  wrested  the 
sceptre  from  him,  and  holds  it  in  behalf  of  redeem¬ 
ed  humanity.  During  this  age,  the  kingdom  is  in 
mystery,  the  Spirit  of  God  ruling  in  all  true  sub¬ 
jects,  and,  through  them,  working  upon  men.  In 
the  coming  age,  the  kingdom  will  be  in  manifesta¬ 
tion,  Christ  being  visibly  on  the  throne.  Then  in 
the  eternal  age,  the  kingdom  will  be  in  restoration, 
as  in  the  eternal  past,  with  the  added  glory  of  a 
glorified  church. 

Every  historic  age  opens  with  a  new  advent ,  and 
closes  with  a  new  revolt :  the  first,  with  the  advent 
of  man;  the  second,  with  the  Advent  of  Christ  as 
Son  of  Man;  and  the  third,  with  Jlis  Advent,  as 
King  of  Glory.  The  revolt  which  ends  one  age 
marks  the  transition  to  the  new  age  that  follows: 
Satan’s  and  man’s  introduce  the  age  before  Christ ; 
Israel’s  the  present  age ;  and  the  final  revolt  of  the 


434 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


nations,  the  Millennial.  Minor  details,  on  the  dia¬ 
gram,  briefly  hint  at  the  truths  referred  to  in  this 
and  preceding  chapters ;  and  the  most  cursory  glance 
at  the  whole  scheme  shows  that  to  be  one  with  God 
is  to  move  steadily  on  to  final  and  eternal  victory 
over  all  foes. 

It  is  plain  also  that,  in  God’s  plan  of  the  ages  is 
the  key,  both  to  the  locked  chambers  of  Scripture 
and  of  History.  However  wrapt  in  mystery  still, 
the  main  outline  is  clear:  the  beginning  of  time; 
certain  marks  that  distinguish  the  ages;  the  impos¬ 
ing  march  of  events  from  Creation,  to  the  Incarna¬ 
tion,  Crucifixion  and  Pentecost ;  the  unutterable 
splendors  of  the  coming  age;  and  the  yet  greater 
glory  of  that  final  period,  which  the  Scriptures  can 
only  refer  to  by  a  Titanic  piling  of  word  upon  word, 
like  heaping  up  mountains — “unto  all  the  genera¬ 
tions  of  the  Age  of  the  Ages!”  (Eph.  iii :21.) 


II.  THE  DISPENSATIONS. 

“Dispensation”  means  a  method  of  dispensing, 
or  dealing,  inadequately  intimating  that,  in  the  va¬ 
rious  periods  of  history,  God  has  dealt  with  men 
with  a  definite  purpose,  and  upon  principles  having  a 
definite  relation  to  His  governmental  administration. 
“The  Dispensation  of  the  Fullness  of  Times” 
(Ephes.  i:10)  suggests  also  the  complete  fulfilment 
of  His  purpose  in  every  age,  so  that  nothing  antici¬ 
pates  or  retards  it. 


435 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


God’s  dealings  with  man  have  been  a  series  of 
new  experiments  on  His  part,  with  new  failures,  on 
man’s;  and  it  is  curious  and  significant  that  the 
main  features  of  the  first  dispensational  period  have 
in  every  succeeding  one  been  reproduced ,  so  that 
the  first  proved  a  pattern  for  all  that  follow. 

For  example,  in  the  period  from  Adam  to  Noah, 
we  note  seven  marked  developments : 

First,  a  New  revelation  of  Truth.  The  Fall  was 
at  once  followed  by  the  first  promise  of  the  victori¬ 
ous  seed  of  the  woman,  and  the  institution  of  sacri¬ 
fice.  New  light  shone  in  the  darkness. 

Second,  a  spiritual  decline.  Salvation  is  promised 
but  does  not  prevent  the  first  murder  and  martyr¬ 
dom;  a  godless  civilization  under  Cain,  and  polyga¬ 
my,  under  Lamech.  As  the  race  grows,  so  does 
apostasy. 

Third,  a  carnal  compromise.  The  "sons  of  God” 
and  the  “daughters  of  men” — probably  followers  of 
Seth  and  Cain,  respectively,  mix  in  marriage;  be¬ 
lievers  and  unbelievers  lose  all  true  separateness. 

Fourth,  a  worldly  civilisation.  It  develops  giants 
in  stature,  mighty  men  of  renown,  but  is  neither 
God-fearing  nor  God-honoring.  Its  success  is  its 
failure,  for  it  neglects,  if  it  does  not  defy,  Jehovah. 

Fifth,  a  parallel  development.  Good  and  evil 
grow  side  by  side,  like  the  tares  and  wheat:  the 
good  neither  uprooting  the  evil,  nor  the  evil  utterly 
crowding  out  the  good — they  grow  together  until 
the  reaping  time  of  Judgment. 

436 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


Sixth,  a  general  apostasy.  God’s  verdict  is,  "the 
wickedness  of  man  is  great  in  the  earth,  and  every 
imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart  only  evil 
continually.”  But  one  man,  just,  perfect  in  his  gen¬ 
erations,  who  walked  with  God ! 

Seventh,  a  Judgment  Crisis.  All  flesh  had  so  cor¬ 
rupted  his  way  upon  the  earth  that  a  wholesale  de¬ 
struction  of  the  race  was  a  mercy,  for  mankind  was 
rotting  in  its  own  vices  and  dying  by  a  slower  sui¬ 
cide. 

Let  these  features  in  the  Scripture  portrait  of 
the  Antediluvian  Age  be  compared  with  those  of 
every  age  succeeding — for  example,  this  present  age. 

It  opened  with  a  new  flood  of  light,  in  Christ  and 
the  Spirit,  but  the  apostolic  times  show  a  marked  de¬ 
cline  in  doctrine  and  practice ;  and  under  Constantine 
compromise  with  the  world  reached  its  climax  in  a 
State  church.  The  civilization  of  which  giants  were 
born,  in  prowess  and  intellect,  was  and  is  godless. 
The  growth  of  tares  and  wheat  goes  on  side  by  side, 
the  world  more  rapidly  than  the  church ;  and  when 
even  professed  teachers  in  the  church  deny  an  in¬ 
spired  Bible  and  an  atoning  Christ,  it  looks  like  the 
last  falling  away.  If  so,  but  one  of  the  seven  fea¬ 
tures  is  lacking — the  Crisis  of  Judgment ! 

This  uniform  history  of  dispensations  proves  that, 
though  every  failure  of  man  is  followed  by  a  new 
trial,  with  new  opportunity,  he  persists  in  his  decline 
from  truth,  his  compromise  with  evil,  his  pursuit  of 

4  37 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


self-interest,  his  defiance  of  God,  and  makes  judg¬ 
ment  a  necessity. 

Notwithstanding  all  this  perversity  of  man,  there 
is  a  divine  progression  through  the  ages  and  dis¬ 
pensations,  never  one  backward  step  on  God’s  part, 
however  many  on  man’s.  The  prophetic  period  melts 
into  the  priestly;  then  both  blend  with  the  Kingly, 
when  in  one  person,  Prophet,  Priest  and  King  unite 
to  make  believers  a  kingdom  of  priests  unto  God. 
Satan,  who,  before  Christ  overcame  him,  was  domi¬ 
nant  and  defiant,  in  this  age  of  the  Spirit  is  by  Him 
restrained  or  counteracted.  In  the  coming  age  he 
is  to  be  bound,  and  finally  burned. 

Election  is  also  progressive,  constantly  widening: 
at  first  an  elect  family  and  nation ;  now,  an  elect 
church;  and  finally,  an  elect  Kingdom.  The  failure 
is  always  man’s — never  God’s,  and  each  new  failure 
gets  man  nearer  to  the  end  of  himself  and  near  the 
beginning  of  God,  so  giving  Him  a  new  advantage 
and  preparing  for  the  day  when,  with  man’s  full 
consent,  He  shall  be  all  in  all.  Prophets  and  priests, 
an  oral  and  then  a  written  law;  afterward  God’s 
Incarnate  Word  and  the  Spirit’s  Descent;  a  New 
Testament  and  complete  Bible;  yet  with  all  these  ac¬ 
cumulated  privileges  and  opportunities,  man  proves 
incapable  of  self-government  or  loyalty  to  God. 
Evil  men  and  seducers  wax  worse  and  worse,  de¬ 
ceiving  and  being  deceived;  and  of  our  own  selves 
do  men  arise,  speaking  perverse  things  and  drawing 
away  disciples  after  them. 

438 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


The  Millennial  Age — God’s  last  experiment  with 
man,  will  also  be  man’s  last  chance.  The  Latter 
Rain  on  ‘‘all  flesh”  as  the  “Early  Rain”  was  on  all 
believers;  the  binding  of  Satan,  and  the  personal 
Reign  of  Christ,  will  not  together  prevent  a  final 
disaster — a  gigantic  revolt  such  as  has  not  been 
known  since  man  was  created!  And  all  this  per¬ 
mitted  in  God’s  wisdom,  that  man  may  learn  that, 
save  as  he  stands  in  God ,  he  cannot  stand  at  all , 
whatever  his  privileges ;  and  with  all  self  confidence 
wrecked,  and  all  compromise  with  the  world  at  an 
end,  he  will  at  last  utterly  LOSE  HIMSELF  IN 
GOD,  and  so  GOD  WILL  BE  ALL  IN  ALL. 

Perhaps  this  is  God’s  way  of  securing  for  re¬ 
deemed  man  that  Holy  City  into  which  sin  will 
never  enter — that  man,  having  learned  his  lesson 
that  he  must  live  in  God,  shall  merge  his  will  so 
completely  in  his  Maker’s,  that  there  shall  be,  be¬ 
tween  him  and  God,  but  one  thought,  desire,  or  pur¬ 
pose!  This  is  the  true  solution  to  the  mystery  of 
the  ages,  and  the  Dispensations. 

III.  THE  KINGDOM. 

Both  the  Ages  and  the  Dispensations  are  insep¬ 
arable  from  the  Kingdom;  and,  as  definitions  are  to 
the  writer  what  outlines  are  to  the  painter,  we  need 
to  define  the  Kingdom  of  God.  Experience  supplies 
no  data,  and  we  must  inquire  at  the  holy  oracles. 
Even  here  deductive  methods  might  tempt  us  to 
warp  Scripture  to  fit  the  crook  of  some  preconcep- 

439 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

tion,  and  the  only  safe  way  is  the  inductive,  collating 
and  comparing  its  testimonies,  and  seeking  that  cen¬ 
ter  where  all  converge  as  Roman  roads,  at  the  “gold¬ 
en  milestone.” 

A  kingdom — the  house  or  domain  of  a  king — is 
the  realm  he  rules.  Wherever  God  sways  a  communi¬ 
ty,  or  even  an  individual,  there  is  His  Kingdom, 
as  every  flag  that  floats  over  a  sailor  on  the  sea,  or 
every  uniform  of  a  soldier  on  land,  indicates  a  sub¬ 
ject  of  a  human  ruler. 

In  the  New  Testament,  the  Kingdom  is  repre¬ 
sented  as  related  to  the  “world,”  the  “church,”  “Is¬ 
rael,”  the  “nations,”  and  the  “ages.”  The  English 
words,  not  always  being  true  equivalents  of  the 
originals,  sometimes  confuse.  “World”  is  used  for 
the  earth,  the  cosmos,  the  habitation  of  man  and  the 
age;  in  a  material  sense,  of  the  globe,  in  a  social 
sense,  of  the  race,  and  in  a  chronological  sense,  of 
an  indefinite  time.  Church  means  an  outcalled  body ; 
Israel  is,  in  prophecy  and  history,  always  distinct 
from  both  “Church”  and  “Kingdom;”  and  all,  from 
“Gentiles,”  or  nations.  Age,  or  eon,  means  a  period 
indefinite  in  length,  but  defined  dispensationally,  and 
these  ages  are  to  the  Kingdom,  its  successive  periods 
of  preparation  or  manifestation.  They  are  built  up  in 
symmetry  and  proportion,  like  a  great  structure,  with 
base  blocks,  story  on  story,  columns  and  capitals, 
spires  and  pinnacles — all  finding  termination  and 
consummation  in  Him  who  is  both  cornerstone  and 
capstone. 


440 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


Augustine  says:  “Distinguish  the  Ages,  and  the 
Scriptures  will  harmonize.”  Their  relation  to  the 
Kingdom  we  have  already  indicated,  but  it  is  im¬ 
portant  to  observe  that,  when  God  called  out  a  peo¬ 
ple  of  old,  it  was  to  establish  a  Theocracy  or  King¬ 
dom  of  God,  Himself  its  Head.  When  His  people 
demanded  a  human  king,  they  disowned  Him,  and 
this  apostasy  ripened  into  division  and  dispersion. 
When  Christ  came,  He  offered  the  Kingdom  to  the 
Jews,  but  they  both  rejected  the  offer  and  crucified 
Him;  this  new  apostasy  brought  a  longer  captivity 
and  a  wider  dispersion,  now  already  lasting  nearly 
two  thousand  years.  The  offer  of  the  Kingdom  is 
now  in  suspense — and  this  is  the  age  of  the  church 
— the  outgathering  of  the  Body  or  Bride  from  all 
nations — the  “Times  of  the  Gentiles,”  during  which 
the  offer  of  the  Gospel  is  to  be  made  to  all  people. 

The  “church”  and  “Kingdom”  are  therefore  not 
convertible  terms .  The  Kingdom  is  constantly  re¬ 
ferred  to  as  characteristic  of  the  past  and  coming 
ages,  but  in  neither  is  the  church  found;  its  history 
fills  the  interval  between  the  sufferings  of  Christ 
and  the  glory  that  shall  follow.  To  confound  with 
the  Kingdom  of  God  any  external  organization  of 
believers,  is  a  blunder;  still  worse,  to  confuse  with  if 
the  kingdoms  of  this  world,  or  to  trust  to  that 
master  device  of  the  Devil,  a  superficial  union  of 
church  and  state,  as  the  Kingdom  of  God.  We  talk 
of  “Christian  nations,”  forgetting  the  fatal  fallacy 
lurking  in  that  phrase,  since  a  nation  is  a  political  or- 

441 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


ganization  incapable  of  faith,  having  no  conscience, 
will  or  personality  as  such;  and  in  the  companion 
phrase,  “the  Christian  world,”  we  combine  what  are 
as  mutually  hostile  as  light  and  darkness. 

This  age  is  peculiarly  the  dispensation  of  the 
Spirit .  His  peculiarity  is  invisibility.  He  is  not  in¬ 
carnate.  For  temporary  and  special  reasons,  He 
appeared  in  the  form  of  a  dove,  and  in  tongues  of 
fire,  but  He  has  no  proper  form  or  body.  He  is  in¬ 
visibly  administering  the  Kingdom,  instead  of  the 
King,  and  hence,  during  this  age,  the  Kingdom  is 
marked  by  invisibility  and  individuality.  Emphasis 
is  laid  upon  internals,  not  externals.  Unseen  of  men, 
the  Kingdom  is  “within  you,”  or  “among  you” — 
invisibly  present  in  individuals,  elective,  not  collect¬ 
ive,  marked  by  intensity,  not  extensity.  The  visi¬ 
ble  church  is  not,  of  course,  identical  with  the  invis¬ 
ible  Kingdom,  for  beside  a  militant  body,  contending 
for  the  faith,  the  church  contains  a  termagant  sec¬ 
tion,  warring  against  its  peace,  and  an  apostate  body, 
fighting  against  the  truth.  God  sees  in  the  Church, 
the  “circumcision,”  the  “concision,”  and  the  “ex¬ 
cision.” 

Hence  the  vice  and  risk  of  statistics.  “Numbering 
the  people”  brought  to  David  a  choice  between 
plague,  famine  and  war;  to  count  up  converts  and 
parade  numerical  results  brings  to  the  church  all 
three  at  once.  During  this  evil  age,  evil  will  per¬ 
meate  and  dominate  it  to  the  end.  Though  the  Sec¬ 
ond  Man  recovered  the  Kingly  Sceptre  Adam  lost, 

442 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


He  waits  until  He  comes  again,  before  He  sets  up 
His  throne  on  earth.  Meanwhile,  the  usurper  is  the 
acknowledged  “god  of  this  world,”  and  his  claim 
seems  supported  by  fact,  that  it  is  his  to  give  its 
riches,  wisdom,  power  and  honor,  to  whom  he  will 
(Luke  iv:6).  So  far  as  Satan  triumphs,  for  the 
time,  saints  are  fettered  by  restraint  and  restric¬ 
tion;  and  the  church  is  in  the  wilderness  rather 
than  on  the  mount  of  victory. 

The  phrase,  “Kingdom  of  the  Heavens,”  peculiar 
to  Matthew,  seems  applicable  to  this  age,  while  the 
King  is  in  the  heavens,  from  thence,  in  the  person 
of  the  Spirit,  His  substitute,  administering  the  king¬ 
dom.  The  sheet  is  now  let  down  from  heaven  to 
gather  of  every  kind,  to  be  drawn  up  again  at  our 
Lord’s  second  advent. 

As  to  the  coming  age,  it  is  as  peculiarly  that  of 
the  Son  of  Man ,  as  the  present  is  of  the  Spirit.  His 
own  marked  phraseology,  the  “Son  of  Man”  and 
“His  Kingdom”  (Matt,  xiii  :41 ;  xvi:28),  cannot  be 
without  meaning.  He  will  come  to  resume  and 
complete  His  personal  dispensation,  interrupted  by 
His  Ascension,  when  He  gave  place  to  the  Spirit. 

The  peculiarities  of  this  coming  age  are  these: 
First  of  all,  Christ’s  personal  reign,  frequently  and 
plainly  set  forth  in  Scripture.  The  Kingdom  will 
then  be  marked  by  visibility;  comprehensive,  exten¬ 
sive,  advancing  toward  universal  dominion.  Then 
all  the  sheep  shall  be  gathered  into  one  flock  under 
the  one  Shepherd.  Then  “all  Israel  shall  be  saved: 

443 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


born  at  once”  ( paam ,  at  a  beat,  or  step),  the  only 
“nation,”  of  whose  conversion  the  Bible  speaks  of 
as  a  totality.  The  collective  and  universal  feature 
will  doubtless  then  be  as  prominent  as  the  elective 
and  individual  is  now;  organization,  conspicuous 
and  world-wide,  a  compact  government  of  which 
Jerusalem  was,  in  its  best  estate,  a  type  (Ps.  122:3). 

This  coming  age  is  to  be  one  of  conquest.  Now 
the  policy  is  persuasive,  not  coercive;  witness,  not 
war;  the  Word,  not  the  sword  which  belongs  rather 
to  the  Kingdom.  Both  at  the  beginning  and  end, 
there  are  to  be  wars  of  conquest,  and  judgments 
more  or  less  destructive.  Satan’s  dominion  is  to 
be  destroyed,  and  the  saints,  bound  now,  are  to  be 
unbound  then;  the  first  resurrection  from  among 
the  dead  will  let  loose  the  bodies  of  “them  that 
sleep,”  from  the  bonds  of  death  and  the  grave,  and 
they,  with  the  living  saints,  caught  up  to  meet  the 
Lord,  will  be  associated  with  Him  in  glory.  Then 
shall  we  understand  the  full  significance  of  those 
ten  mysterious  words  which  are  like  bright  points 
in  that  grand  circle  of  the  coming  age — “return,” 
“revelation,”  “refreshing,”  “restitution,”  “restora¬ 
tion,”  “regeneration,”  “resurrection,”  “reception,” 
“recompense,”  “redemption.”  This  coming  age  is 
also  the  age  of  completion,  when  all  things  are  to 
“head  up”  into  Christ. 

There  is  an  age  yet  beyond,  when  time  shall  be 
no  longer — an  eternal  age  (better  described  by  the 
Greek  word,  aidios,  than  aionios).  This  seems  dis- 


444 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


tinctively  the  period  of  the  “Father’s  Kingdom.” 
“Then  cometh  the  end,  when  He  delivers  up  the 
kingdom  to  God,  even  the  Father,  when  He  shall 
have  put  down  all  rule  and  all  authority  and  power. 
For  He  must  reign  till  He  hath  put  all  enemies  un¬ 
der  His  feet.  Death,  the  last  enemy,  shall  be  de¬ 
stroyed.  *  *  *  And  when  all  things  shall  be 

subdued  unto  Him,  then  shall  the  Son  also  Himself 
be  subject  unto  Him  that  put  all  things  under  Him, 
that  God  may  be  all  in  all”  (1  Cor.  xv:24-28). 

These  words  indicate  a  still  grander  end — a  close 
to  Christ’s  proper  mediatorial  reign,  the  object  there¬ 
of  being  attained,  and  the  consequent  delivering  of 
the  Son’s  sceptre  back  into  the  Father’s  hands. 

Toward  this  final  consummation  all  the  ages 
grandly  move.  This  is  the  final  fulfilment  of  that 
prayer,  dictated  by  the  Son  Himself,  specifically  ad¬ 
dressed  to  the  “ Father  ”  which  refers  to  an  ultimate 
state  of  perfection,  to  be  reached  and  realized  only  in 
the  “Father’s  Kingdom,”  and  therefore  in  the  “eter¬ 
nal”  age.  The  qualifying  phrase,  “On  earth  as  it  is 
in  heaven,”  which  we  connect  only  with  the  last  of 
three  petitions,  undoubtedly  refers  to  all.  “As  in 
heaven,  so  on  earth,  let  Thy  name  be  hallowed, 
Thy  kingdom  come,  Thy  will  be  done !”  Such  con¬ 
struction  interprets  and  lights  up  the  prayer  as  sun¬ 
shine  transfigures  a  cathedral  window.  We  are 
taught  to  turn  our  eyes  to  heaven,  toward  Him 
whose  Fatherhood  has  been  disowned,  whose  benig¬ 
nant  paternal  rule  has  been  dishonored,  whose 

445 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


blessed  will  has  been  resisted,  by  His  rebellious  sub¬ 
jects,  and  to  pray  that,  once  more,  the  conditions  of 
a  celestial  state  may  be  restored  in  the  terrestrial 
sphere;  that,  on  earth,  as  in  heaven,  that  name  of 
Father  may  be  hallowed  and  worshipped ;  His  King¬ 
dom  may  have  universal,  undisputed  sway,  and  His 
Fatherly  will  may  be  done;  with  obedience  as  im¬ 
mediate  and  implicit,  self-surrender  as  complete  and 
cheerful,  here  as  there.  This  is  a  prophecy  and 
forecast  of  an  age,  beyond  even  the  millennial ;  for, 
not  even  during  that,  is  predicted  any  triumph  or 
transformation  so  complete.  This  age  is  militant, 
marked  to  its  close  by  a  fight  for  the  faith.  Even 
the  triumphant  age  coming — is  to  close  with  a  battle 
against  foes,  found  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth, 
“whose  number  is  as  the  sand  of  the  sea.”  A  prayer 
that  anticipates  a  triumph  over  evil,  so  complete 
that  on  earth  worship  shall  be  as  devout,  God’s  sway 
as  absolute,  and  man’s  obedience  as  complete,  as 
in  heaven  itself,  must  refer  to  a  period  when  the 
last  enemy  is  destroyed,  and  all  foes  have  been 
put  beneath  the  feet  of  the  enthroned  Son  of  God. 
This  is  also  the  full  and  final  revelation  of  the 
glory  of  the  saints,  when  the  righteous  are  to 
“shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the  Kingdom  of  their 
Father ”  (Matt.  xiii:43). 

Imagine  a  world-wide  empire  of  a  father  who  as¬ 
sociates  with  him,  in  equal  honors  and  dignities,  a 
prince  and  princess  royal.  The  administration  of  a 
distant  and  revolted  province  is  by  this  father  corn- 

446 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


mitted  to  the  son  during  the  period  of  revolt.  The 
sen  goes  there  in  partial  disguise  on  his  mission  of 
reconciliation,  revealing  himself  to  certain  who  re¬ 
pent  of  their  rebellion,  receive  him,  and  gather 
around  him  as  the  nucleus  of  a  restored  State.  Being 
rejected,  insulted,  and  outraged  by  others,  he  with¬ 
draws,  having  used  no  coercive  measures,  and  sends 
the  princess  royal  to  use  her  singular  charms  to  win 
back  other  rebels  to  their  allegiance.  Hers  is  a 
strictly  secret  mission;  herself  always  unseen,  she 
prompts  messages  of  love  and  sends  out  far 
and  wide  her  heralds  with  the  good  news  of 
amnesty,  until  the  whole  province  is  pervaded 
by  the  tidings  and  a  large  body  of  loyal  sub¬ 
jects  has  been  organized.  Then  suddenly  the  prince 
royal,  in  all  the  glory  of  his  father,  and  with  a 
vast  army,  appears  on  the  scene  and  leads  on  his 
elect  host  to  a  final  contest  and  an  overwhelming 
conquest.  All  enemies  who  do  not  voluntarily  bow 
before  his  power  are  slain  by  his  sword ;  and, 
perfect  peace  being  re-established,  he  surrenders 
back  the  reins  of  government  into  the  father’s 
hands. 

In  this  study  of  the  ages  and  the  kingdom  the  ages 
are  the  courts,  of  which  the  kingdom  is  the  taber¬ 
nacle,  and  we  advance  from  outer  court  to  inner 
shrine.  The  present  age  is  the  outer  court,  with  its 
altar  of  burnt  offering  and  laver,  reminding  us  of 
the  two  great  truths  to  be  emphasized  and  pro¬ 
claimed,  the  “terms  of  communion  with  God — a  new 

447 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


relation  by  the  blood  of  atonement  and  a  new  nature 
by  the  Spirit  and  the  Word.  Behind  the  first  veil, 
lies  the  coming  age,  with  its  ideal  “forms  of  commu¬ 
nion, n  the  sevenfold  lamp  of  witness,  the  consecrated 
offering  of  self  and  service,  and  the  incense  of  heart 
worship.  But,  beyond  even  the  second  veil,  is  to  be 
realized  a  perfected  ideal — God  Himself  dwelling  in 
the  midst  of  a  redeemed  and  glorified  humanity  as 
the  Shekinah  shone  between  the  wings  of  the  cheru¬ 
bim. 

In  his  remarkable  book — “After  the  Thousand 
Years” — Mr.  George  F.  Trench  has  shown  conclu¬ 
sively  that  what  we  call  “the  millennial  age”  cannot 
meet  all  the  requirements  of  the  prophetic  forecast. 
The  Kingdom,  as  described  especially  in  the  four 
Pauline  epistles — to  the  Ephesians,  Philippians,  Co- 
lossians  and  Hebrews — cannot  be  the  kingdom  that 
closes  with  a  general  insurrection  against  Christ  as 
King,  which  could  only  be  the  outcome  of  heart-sub¬ 
jection  to  Satanic  rule.  Between  the  end  of  the 
millennial  and  the  beginning  of  the  eternal,  Mr. 
Trench  contends  that  there  must  intervene  that  “Dis¬ 
pensation  of  the  Fulness  of  Times,”  when,  as  Heir 
of  all  things  and  undisputed  Head  of  the  whole 
creation,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  shall  reign  with  all 
in  absolute  and  hearty  subjection  to  Himself. 

This  view  is  so  clearly  Scriptural  that  the  only 
surprise  is  that  it  has  not  been  more  definitely  and 
widely  held.  It  adds  immeasurably,  both  to  the  glory 
of  Christ  as  the  Coming  King,  and  of  the  Father  as 
the  former  and  framer  of  the  ages.  It  is  the  period 

448 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


typified  by  the  eighth  day  of  the  Mosaic  Code;  the 
perfect  glory  of  Christ,  reserved  for  “the  morrow 
after”  the  millennial  “Sabbath!”  And,  while  the 
millennial  period  is  limited  to  a  thousand  years,  there 
are  no  definite  limits  to  this  final  age  of  glory. 

That  mystic  phrase,  “fulness  of  time,”  suggests 
a  certain  overflow,  as  if  past  ages  were  but  partial 
and  incomplete :  this  is  a  full-time  dispensation,  and 
may  be  also  in  duration — “to  a  thousand  genera¬ 
tions.” 

But  the  point  is,  that  the  glory  of  the  Coming 
King,  as  revealed  only  from  the  mountain  summits 
to  which  we  climb  in  the  four  epistles  already  men¬ 
tioned,  demands  something  more  than  a  reign  in 
which  hostile  elements  are  only  held  in  check,  at  last 
to  break  forth  in  a  monster  revolt.  Surely  our  Lord 
is  not  to  reign  simply  till  He  has  put  all  foes  under 
His  feet,  and  then  with  His  conquest  just  achieved 
and  with  no  opportunity  for  the  peaceful  enjoyment 
of  His  victory,  surrender  up  His  Sceptre ! 

We  fully  agree  with  Mr.  Trench  that  all  the  pro¬ 
phetic  conditions  are  not  met  until  between  the 
last  revolt  and  “the  end,”  we  make  room  for  a 
period,  indefinite  in  length,  when,  after  all  ene¬ 
mies  are  routed,  the  King  of  Kings  and  Lord  of 
lords  shall  peacefully  possess  His  seat  of  Empire, 
and  reign  over  a  loyal  and  loving  people,  among 
whom  no  secret  traitors  foster  their  dark  designs* 

♦“After  the  Thousand  Years,”  Geo.  F.  Trench. 

449 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


The  bearing  of  this  study  upon  missions  is  funda¬ 
mental,  vital.  To  a  true  disciple  the  one  question  is, 
“What  is  my  Master's  will?”  Our  great  commis¬ 
sion  is  a  world’s  evangelization,  and  its  sphere  is 
this  present  evil  age:  now,  crucifixion  with  Christ, 
fellowship  with  Him  in  travail;  in  the  coming  age 
coronation  with  Christ,  fellowship  with  Him  in 
triumph.  To  the  end  of  this  age  we  are  at  His  com¬ 
mand  to  “go  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  Gospel 
to  every  creature,”  leaving  all  results  with  Him,  and 
not  measuring  success  by  superficial  signs. 

Now,  the  kingdom,  being  invisible,  extends  its 
sway  in  the  hearts  of  disciples,  one  by  one.  Its  con¬ 
quests,  in  silence  and  secrecy,  come  not  “with  obser¬ 
vation,”  sounding  no  loud  trumpet  as  a  signal  for 
advance,  sending  no  imperial  herald  to  cry,  “Lo, 
here !”  “Lo,  there !”  Sometimes  its  progress  is  like 
that  of  ocean  tides,  rising  toward  a  higher  flood 
mark,  even  while  seeming  to  recede  toward  a  lower 
level.  An  invisible  Spirit  leads  on,  leaving  behind  no 
track  traceable  by  the  carnal  eye;  an  unseen  Christ 
assures,  “Lo,  I  am  with  you  always,  even  unto  the 
end  of  the  age.”  Why  not  be  satisfied  to  do  our  duty, 
and  not  attempt  to  gauge  the  kingdom  by  man’s 
measuring  rod?  Though  unseen,  the  kingdom  is 
as  divinely  real,  the  Spirit  as  divinely  mighty,  the 
Master  as  divinely  present,  as  though  supernal  splen¬ 
dors  smote  our  eyes.  To  look  for  a  world’s  complete 
conquest  during  this  age  deludes  us  with  a  false 
hope,  unaffirmed  in  prophecy,  unconfirmed  by  his- 

450 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


tory.  After  many  centuries  “the  offence  of  the 
cross’’  has  not  ceased ;  evil  still  rules  this  world,  and 
Satan  is  still  its  god.  Yet,  from  all  nations,  the 
church  is  surely  being  outgathered,  though  the  race 
is  still  in  rebellion ;  into  one  temple  the  “living 
stones”  are  being  built,  though  masses  of  bed-rock 
lie  dead  in  the  quarries. 

The  Church  waits  for  her  full  salvation,  the  world 
for  its  true  transformation,  the  whole  creation  for  its 
final  redemption,  until  He  comes  who  maketh  “all 
things  new.”  Let  us  do  our  duty  in  this  present 
evil  age,  and  the  kingdom  will  come  now,  so  far 
and  so  fast  as  God  means  it  shall,  in  hearts  subdued 
and  renewed  by  the  Spirit.  Then  the  King  will  re¬ 
turn,  and  the  kingdom  will  come  in  that  grander 
sense  and  on  that  grander  scale  that  befit  the  glory 
of  His  new  advent  and  formal  assumption  of  regal 
dignities.  And  when  that  final  age  shall  open,  which 
is  the  apex  of  the  time-worlds,  whose  eternal  noon 
knows  no  shadow  of  sin  or  death,  then  the  kingdom 
will  have  come  in  splendor,  consummate,  infinite, 
eternal.  On  a  new  earth,  arched  by  a  new  heaven, 
God’s  name  shall  be  hallowed  and  God’s  will  shall  be 
done  by  a  redeemed  race  of  humanity,  as  now  before 
His  throne  the  intelligence  of  cherubs  and  the  affec¬ 
tion  of  seraphs  blend  in  ceaseless  adoration  and  ec¬ 
static  obedience. 


451 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


IV.  THE  TWO  ADVENTS. 

To  understand  this  mystery  of  History,  we  need 
a  correct  Biblical  idea  of  the  Two  Advents  of  Christ , 
and  their  relation.  (Diagram  XII.) 

For  the  illustration  of  these  truths,  an  ellipse 
serves  better  than  a  circle  with  but  one  center,  for  it 
has  two  foci  and  by  the  law  of  this  curve  the  sum 
of  two  lines,  drawn  from  any  point  to  the  foci,  will 
be  the  same.  This  illustrates  the  relation  of  the 
scheme  of  redemption  to  two  great  events :  Christ’s 
first  and  second  Comings.  Let  this  left  focus  (B) 
represent  His  first  Advent,  and  the  right  focus  (C) 
His  second  Advent;  the  creation  of  man  be  repre¬ 
sented  by  the  left  point  (A)  where  the  axis  cuts 
the  curve;  and  the  delivering  up  of  the  kingdom 
to  God  and  the  Father,  (D)  at  its  other  extremity. 
Thus  the  curve  outlines  the  entire  range  and  scope 
of  Christ's  mediatorial  work ,  backward  from  His 
incarnation  to  the  fall  of  Adam,  and  forward  to  the 
conclusion  of  His  mediatorial  reign. 

Between  creation  and  the  incarnation,  there 
stands  conspicuous,  an  altar  of  sacrifice  and  between 
the  two  Advents,  the  Table  of  the  Lord.  The  altar 
refers  back  to  the  fall,  and  forward  to  the  cross; 
for  every  victim  that  bled  upon  the  altar  reminded 
of  sin,  and  pointed  forward  to  one  who  was  to  take 
away  sin.  Lines  are  drawn  from  both  directions  to 
the  altar,  to  indicate  this  mutual  relationship.  Like¬ 
wise  the  Table  of  the  Lord  points  backward  to  the 

452 


tXCRNAL  , 
AC£.  A 


The  Mystery  of  History. 

cross,  and  forward  to  the  crown;  for,  “As  often  as 
ye  eat  this  bread  and  drink  this  cup  ye  do  show 
the  Lord's  death  till  he  come."  We  therefore  unite 
these  also  by  similar  lines. 

Between  this  second  coming  and  the  delivering 
up  of  the  kingdom  stands  a  throne;  it  points  back 
to  the  assumption  of  the  Kingship  at  His  Advent 
and  forward  to  the  delivering  up  of  the  kingdom 
at  the  end ;  and  hence  again  connecting  lines. 

Thus  we  have  a  philosophy  both  of  theology  and 
of  history,  for  the  ellipse  embraces  the  entire  media¬ 
torial  work  of  Christ,  from  the  fall  of  man,  to  the 
final  Surrender  of  the  mediatorial  Sceptre. 

Again,  there  are  three  offices  of  Christ — the  pro¬ 
phetic,  the  priestly,  and  the  kingly ;  and  three  periods 
of  history  are  embraced  within  this  ellipse :  First,  the 
prophetic,  mainly  from  the  fall  to  the  cross;  the 
priestly,  from  the  Incarnation  to  the  second  com¬ 
ing;  the  kingly,  from  His  coming  to  “The  End.” 
During  the  prophetic  period,  there  was  a  forecast 
of  His  priesthood,  in  the  Levitical  offices  and  sacri¬ 
fices.  During  the  priestly,  a  forecast  of  His  king- 
ship,  in  individual  surrender  of  believers  to  His 
sway.  There  is  no  indication  in  the  Word  of  God 
that  Christ  has  ever  yet  assumed  the  kingship ;  yet 
the  whole  conception  of  His  mediatorial  work  rests 
ultimately  upon  this  idea,  as  its  basis. 

In  studying  God's  scheme  of  redemption,  we  must 
note  that  the  Bible  is  a  blank  as  to  what  we  call 
“profane”  history,  having  very  little  to  do  with  the 

453 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


annals  of  the  race,  as  such; — it  is  the  history  of 
God's  chosen  people.  Accurately  to  make  out  the 
various  490  year-periods  (in  1  Kings  vi.  and  Dan. 
ix.),  we  must  leave  out  the  periods  of  the  captivities 
or  apostasies  of  Israel,  for  God  does  not  count  in 
His  calendar  time  not  spent  in  His  service,  reckon¬ 
ing  only  the  period  of  obedience !  To  study  <( church 
history” — the  spiritual  development  of  the  race — we 
must  look  up  past  the  human,  to  the  divine  chro¬ 
nology,  and  notice  how  God’s  Clock  ticks  and  strikes 
for  the  fulness  of  time.  When  the  Israelites  pressed 
for  a  king,  God  gave  them  one,  but  with  His  own 
disapprobation;  then,  when  Saul,  their  choice,  was 
an  utter  failure,  He  says,  “I  have  chosen  me  a  man, 
after  mine  own  heart;  his  kingdom  shall  be  a  per¬ 
petual  kingdom;  and  *  *  *  there  shall  sit  on 

the  throne  of  David,  a  Prince  in  David’s  line,  of 
whose  kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end.”  Here,  while 
the  Israelitish  idea  of  the  kingdom  was  apparently 
adopted  by  God — it  is  rather  adapted — He  trans¬ 
mutes  the  human  conception  of  kingdom  into  the 
theocratic,  or  rather  engrafts  the  latter  on  the 
former. 

John  the  Baptist’s  proclamation  was,  “the  king¬ 
dom  of  heaven  is  at  hand” — “Make  ready  for  the 
coming  King.”  Jesus  began  His  ministry  with  the 
same  announcement,  and  so,  when  He  sent  forth  the 
Seventy  and  the  Twelve,  they  also  said,  “The  king¬ 
dom  of  heaven  is  come  nigh.”  Zechariah’s  prophecy : 
“Behold,  thy  King  cometh  unto  thee,”  was  fulfilled, 

454 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


when  Jesus  entered  Jerusalem,  exactly  as  prophesied, 
and  made  the  offer  of  the  kingdom  to  the  Jews,  as 
had  been  foretold,  and  the  people  and  the  children 
said,  “Hosanna !  Blessed  is  the  King  that  cometh 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  Blessed  be  the  kingdom 
of  our  father  David.” 

But  the  rulers  and  representatives  of  the  people, 
and  the  members  of  the  Sanhedrim  said,  “We  will 
not  have  this  man  to  reign  over  us.”  Consequently, 
the  offer  of  the  kingdom  was  suspended  from  that 
time,  and  has  never  yet  been  renewed.  Hear  the 
words  of  the  Messianic  King:  “How  often  would 
I  have  gathered  thy  children  together,  even  as  a  hen 
gathereth  her  brood  under  her  wings,  but  ye  would 
not;”  “Ye  shall  not  see  Me  henceforth,  until  the 
time  come  when  Ye  shall  say” — as  the  common 
people  and  the  little  children  had  said — “Blessed  is 
he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.” 

From  that  time  forth,  there  was  no  more  proc¬ 
lamation  of  the  “kingdom.”  In  fact  Christ  Himself 
says :  “The  kingdom  shall  be  taken  away  from  you ;” 
and  likens  Himself  to  “a  nobleman  that  goes  into  a 
far  country  to  receive  for  himself  a  kingdom,  and 
to  return.” 

We  find  confirmation  of  this  divine  philosophy  of 
history,  in  the  priestly  offices  of  our  Lord.  There 
were  four  parts  of  the  priests’  work ;  first,  sacrifice 
at  the  altar ;  second,  service  in  the  holy  place ;  third, 
intercession  in  the  holiest  of  all;  and,  fourth,  what 

455 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


should  be  made  more  conspicuous,  the  return  into 
the  court  to  bless  the  congregation . 

In  the  Tabernacle  (Diagram  viii),  Sacrifice  was 
performed  in  the  Outer  Court,  service  in  the  Holy 
Place,  intercession  in  the  Holiest  of  all,  and  bene¬ 
diction  outside,  near  the  brazen  Altar.  These  are 
all  noted  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews:  “Now 
when  these  things  were  thus  ordained,  the  priests 
went  always  into  the  first  tabernacle,  accomplishing 
the  service  of  God.”  *  *  *  “It  was  therefore 

necessary  that  the  patterns  of  things  in  the  heavens 
should  be  purified  with  these;  but  the  heavenly 
things  themselves  with  better  sacrifices  than  these.” 
*  *  *  “For  Christ  is  not  entered  into  the  holy 

places  made  with  hands,  which  are  the  figures  of  the 
true;  but  into  heaven  itself,  now  to  appear  in  the 
presence  of  God  for  us”  That  is  intercession.  “So 
Christ  was  once  offered  to  bear  the  sins  of  many; 
and  unto  them  that  look  for  him  shall  he  appear 
the  second  time  without  sin  unto  salvation.”  That 
corresponds  to  the  High  Priest’s  Return  and  Bene¬ 
diction  (Heb.  ix:6-28). 

The  High  Priest  thus  took  the  blood,  went  into 
the  holy  place,  and,  into  the  holiest  of  all,  for  “in¬ 
tercession,”  at  the  Mercy  Seat,  the  people  waiting 
outside  for  the  sign  of  the  completed  “atonement.” 
Then  he  returned,  not  in  the  white  garments  of  hu¬ 
miliation,  with  which  he  went  in,  but  in  the  gar¬ 
ments  of  glory  and  beauty;  and,  standing  before  the 
people,  and  lifting  his  hands,  pronounced  the  Leviti- 

456 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


cal  Benediction  (Numb.  vi:26),  and  the  ceremonies 
of  the  great  Day  of  Atonement  were  finished. 

But  they  were  not  complete  until  the  benediction 
was  pronounced ;  nor  will  the  priestly  office  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  be,  until  He  returns,  and,  with  the 
same  pierced  hands  uplifted  in  blessing,  as  at  His 
ascension,  bestows  upon  His  waiting  people  the  ful¬ 
ness  of  benediction  in  a  perfected  salvation! 

The  High  Priest,  of  old,  began  with  sacrifice,  be¬ 
cause  sins,  of  his  own  and  of  the  people,  must  first 
be  atoned  for ;  but  the  sinless  Christ  began  with  ser¬ 
vice:  “Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's 
business  ?”  Then,  as  one  who  already  in  the  holy 
place,  had  given  all  He  had  to  God,  He  comes  back, 
as  to  the  brazen  altar,  and,  because  no  other  victim 
would  suffice,  became,  at  once,  priest  and  victim, 
giving  Himself  for  our  sins.  Now,  He  has  gone 
into  the  Holiest,  there  to  appear  in  the  presence  of 
God  for  us,  thence  to  come  again  and  appear  to  those 
who  look  for  Him ;  not  again  to  be  made  sin  for  us, 
but  to  bring  us  the  fulness  and  the  glory  of  salvation, 
as  now  reserved  in  heaven,  ready  to  be  revealed  in 
the  last  time. 

This  coming  of  the  Lord  is  complex,  involving  at 
least  seven  other  associated  facts  and  truths. 

First,  His  Session  at  the  right  hand  of  God.  If, 
when  he  ascended,  He  took  His  place  on  His 
own  throne,  why  does  Scripture  refer  to  His  King¬ 
dom  as  something  yet  to  come?  But,  when  He 
ascended,  the  Father  said  to  Him,  “Come  and 

457 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


sit  with  Me,  on  My  throne.”  He  is  not  yet  en¬ 
throned  as  King,  in  His  own  right,  but  as  the  ex¬ 
pectant  Heir,  seated,  not  on  His  own  throne,  but 
His  Father’s,  waiting  till  His  enemies  are  made  His 
footstool;  until,  as  on  their  necks,  He  mounts  to 
His  own  throne;  and  hence  He  says:  ‘‘To  him  that 
overcometh  will  I  grant  to  sit  with  me  on  my  throne, 
as  I  also  have  overcome,  and  am  set  down  with  my 
Father  on  his  throne”  (Rev.  iii:21). 

To  evade  such  plain  teaching  introduces  chaotic 
confusion  into  Scripture.  A  prominent  writer,  seek¬ 
ing  to  explain  the  prophecies  about  Christ’s  kingship, 
without  admitting  that,  though  not  yet  so  reigning. 
He  is  coming  as  a  king,  treats  as  nonsense  all  at¬ 
tempts  to  verify  the  prophecies  about  Israel  by  literal 
facts  about  their  regathering  and  restoration,  and 
holds  that  all  such  forecasts  are  to  be  spiritually 
interpreted,  Israel  being  equivalent  to  the  church. 
A  little  further  on  he  concedes  that,  " after  the  ful¬ 
ness  of  the  Gentiles  shall  have  been  gathered  in,  all 
Israel  shall  be  saved!”  Israel  is,  at  one  point,  the 
church,  and,  shortly  after,  separate  from  the  church, 
with  suspended  privileges,  not  to  be  saved,  till  after 
the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles  has  been  gathered  in.  He 
says,  “If  these  prophecies  about  the  kingship  of 
Christ  are  to  be  literally  interpreted,  then  Jesus 
Christ  has  never  come,  for  He  certainly  did  not  come 
as  an  earthly  king ;”  which  is  as  much  as  to  say  that 
if  the  prophecies  indicate  that  He  shall  literally  be  an 

458 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


earthly  king,  inasmuch  as  He  did  not  come  in  the 
first  place  as  such,  He  did  not  come  at  all. 

Of  these  seven  truths,  four  pertain  specially  to  the 
church ;  and,  first,  that  the  church  is  an  out-called 
body — ecclesia.  The  late  Dr.  A.  A.  Hodge  says,  “ec- 
clesia  always  implies  a  minority;”  hence,  during  this 
age — the  period  of  the  church — it  will  always  remain 
in  the  minority — a  fatal  admission  for  those  who 
expect  a  millennium  before  Christ  comes.  Again, 
the  church  is  thus  called  out  to  be  a  witness  to  the 
world,  and  throughout  the  world,  until  the  end  of 
the  age.  This  witnessing  includes  whatever  helps 
to  put  before  human  souls  the  grandeur,  dignity  and 
power  of  Christ  as  Saviour  and  Lord.  Some  have 
ridiculed  this  idea  of  “witness,”  representing  mes¬ 
sengers  as  rushing  on  horseback  into  a  village, 
trumpeting  forth  the  message  that  he  who  believeth 
shall  be  saved,  and  he  who  believeth  not  shall  be 
damned,  and  then  hurrying  away.  Witnessing  cov¬ 
ers  the  whole  process  of  calling  out  of  the  world  a 
people  for  God ;  but  we  are  not  to  wait  till  we  first 
convert  any  part  of  the  world,  before  we  evangelize 
the  whole,  “preaching  the  Gospel  to  every  creature” 
that  all  men  may  hear. 

Again,  the  church,  as  a  whole,  will  drift  into  apos¬ 
tasy.  There  is  to  be  a  falling  away ;  while  some  will 
be  true  to  God,  many  will  not  hold  fast  the*  faith, 
and  an  alarming  defection  is  foretold  toward  the  end 
of  the  age.  Some  of  us  wonder  whether  this  apos¬ 
tasy  is  not  even  now  in  progress,  when  men  teach 

459 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


even  in  theological  schools,  who  would  not  have  been 
tolerated  at  the  Lord’s  table,  twenty-five  years  ago, 
but  classed  with  infidels.  Preachers  cast  contempt 
on  blood  atonement,  inspiration  of  Holy  Scripture, 
and  all  that  is  vital  to  a  supernatural  gospel. 

The  other  church-truth  is  that  there  is  to  be  a 
resurrection  of  dead  saints,  out  from  the  general 
body  of  the  dead,  when  Jesus  Christ  appears  in 
glory. 

Another  truth  concerns  Israel.  “The  gifts  and 
calling  of  God  are  without  repentance;”  when 
the  first  covenant  of  God  with  His  own  people 
was  made  void  by  their  disobedience,  He  made 
“a  new  covenant,”  in  which  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  contracting  party,  on  behalf  of  men. 
“Inasmuch  as  they  regarded  not  my  covenant, 
said  the  Lord,  I  will  make  a  new  covenant  with 
the  house  of  Israel  after  those  days.  I  will  put 
my  laws  in  their  minds  and  in  their  hearts  will 
I  write  them,  and  their  sins  and  iniquities  will  I 
remember  no  more”  (Hebrews  viii:8-13,  x:16,  17). 
Man  has  broken  every  covenant  he  has  ever 
made,  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  now  under¬ 
takes  to  be  responsible  for  frail  human  believers, 
who  cannot  keep  their  promises,  and  their  unfaith¬ 
fulness  and  unbelief  never  can  make  that  new  cov- 
enant«void. 

Once  more  as  to  the  man  of  sin.  All  systems, 
opposed  to  God,  are  essentially  Anti-christ,  but  there 
Is  probably  a  final  person  in  whom  all  these  will 

460 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


head  up.  These  are  the  subordinate  truths,  specially 
connected  with  the  Lord’s  coming. 

Adolph  Saphir,  in  his  “Divine  Unity  of  the  Scrip¬ 
ture,”  presents  an  original  view  of  the  connection 
between  the  two  miracles  recorded  in  the  sixth  chap¬ 
ter  of  John ;  the  feeding  of  the  five  thousand  and  the 
appearing  to  the  disciples,  when  rowing  on  a  stormy 
sea,  so  that  the  ship  was  immediately  at  the  land 
whither  they  went.  The  former  represents  the  world 
hungry  for  food,  and  satisfied  only  when  Christ 
feeds  them.  The  disciples  with  Christ  in  the  midst 
of  them,  bring  the  loaves  and  fishes  to  Him;  He 
blesses,  and  breaks,  and  they  distribute  them,  so 
that  all  are  fed  and  filled,  and  twelve  baskets  of 
fragments  remain.  That  miracle  represents  Christ, 
co-working  with  all  true  disciples  in  preaching  the 
Word  enabling  them  to  take  the  barley  loaves  of  the 
Gospel,  despised  by  men  because  it  does  not  conform 
to  human  standards  of  learning  and  culture,  and  is 
too  plain  diet  for  philosophers  and  sages.  Yet  dis¬ 
ciples,  taking  the  simple  message  of  salvation,  which 
is  still  foolishness  to  the  Greek  and  a  stumbling- 
block  to  the  Jew,  feed  hungry  souls,  the  world  over. 
The  miracle  still  goes  on,  and  the  supply  undimin¬ 
ished  ;  nay,  as  we  divide,  the  Lord  multiplies ;  as  we 
subtract,  He  adds,  as  we  decrease  by  distribution,  He 
increases  for  distribution. 

In  the  other  miracle,  the  world  is  represented  by  a 
restless  and  tossing  sea.  It  is  not  now  hunger,  but 
unrest — opposition  to  God.  The  ship  in  the  midst  of 

461 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


the  sea  is  the  little  church  of  disciples,  tossed  on  the 
stormy  waters,  Satan  using  the  winds  and  waves  to 
blow  and  beat  upon  it,  and  seeking  to  destroy  it,  ut¬ 
terly  ;  Christ,  away  on  the  mountain  top,  communing 
with  the  Father,  and  out  of  their  sight.  However 
they  toil  in  rowing,  the  ship  makes  no  progress.  The 
world’s  unrest  continues;  its  hostility  abides,  and  it 
opposes  Christ  as  much  as  ever.  Though  some  fancy 
that  the  world  is  growing  better,  the  carnal  heart 
hates  Him  as  it  always  has,  and  if  He  were  on  the 
earth  to-day  would  crucify  Him,  as  in  the  clays  of 
His  flesh.  Those  who  are  hoping  to  convert  the 
world,  keep  pulling  away  at  their  oars,  but  they  can 
neither  still  the  sea,  nor  bring  the  vessel  nearer 
shore;  all  they  can  do  is  to  keep  it  afloat!  But,  in 
the  fourth  watch  of  the  night,  Jesus  will  come  to 
them  as  they  toil  in  rowing,  and  immediately  the 
ship  will  be  at  the  land.  The  sea  will  be  stilled 
when  He  appears,  and  straightway  the  church  will 
reach  her  haven. 

Is  there  no  significance  in  those  two  miracles  ?  The 
first,  the  world  in  its  hunger  coming  to  Christ,  and 
getting  the  loaves  and  the  fishes,  and  being  filled  in 
the  ministry  of  the  Word ;  and  the  second,  the  world 
in  its  unrest  and  its  hostility  to  Christ,  beating  away 
against  the  little  ship  of  the  church  and  trying  to 
swamp  it  and  sink  it;  while  all  that  disciples  can  do 
is  to  keep  the  ship  afloat.  We  cannot  still  these 
waves ;  we  cannot  give  peace  instead  of  this  unrest ; 
we  cannot  abate  this  antagonism  of  the  world.  But 

462 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


just  as  soon  as  Jesus  comes,  now  away,  communing 
with  the  Father,  there  will  be  peace.  The  world  will 
be  brought  to  a  new  state,  and  the  church  will  be  at 
the  shore  whither  it  seeks  to  go. 

“Now  of  the  things  that  we  have  spoken  this  is 
the  sum.”  We  have  a  High  Priest  who  once  accom¬ 
plished  a  perfect  atonement  for  us ;  who,  through 
the  rent  veil  having  passed  into  the  holiest  of  all,  has 
taken  His  seat  on  the  right  hand  of  the  throne  of  the 
Majesty  on  high,  ruling  over  His  people,  by  reigning 
in  their  hearts.  He,  being  the  mediator  of  a  new 
covenant  established  upon  better  promises,  repre¬ 
senting  His  people  before  God,  and  making  their 
service  perfect  because  His  own  service  is  identified 
with  it,  representing  God  to  His  people  in  bringing 
down  the  mighty  power  of  God  to  control  them  in 
their  sinful  propensities  and  carnal  desires,  buoys 
them  up  with  patience,  and  gives  them  encourage¬ 
ment  and  hope  and  joy  and  the  assurance  of  His 
divine  presence.  And  there  He  sits,  with  no  “foot¬ 
stool”  as  yet,  but  He  shall  shortly  bruise  Satan  under 
His  own  feet  and  under  His  saints'  feet,  and  then 
His  foes  shall  be  made  His  footstool.  While  the 
church,  rowing  against  wind  and  tide,  seeks  to  get 
nearer  heaven,  making  little  or  no  progress,  He  is 
watching  from  the  hidden  place  of  communion  with 
the  Father;  and,  when  the  crisis  is  greatest,  the 
danger  most  extreme,  the  darkness  deepest,  and  the 
distress  the  most  overwhelming,  He  will  suddenly 
appear,  in  the  very  midst  of  the  troubled  waters, 

463 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


walking  on  the  sea  in  divine  majesty;  and  imme¬ 
diately  when  He  comes  into  the  ship  it  will  touch  the 
millennial  shore,  and  all  the  dangers  and  disasters 
of  church  life  will  be  past. 

There  is  mystery  in  God’s  Word,  for  it  is  His 
workmanship.  The  range  and  the  scope  of  it  is  ter¬ 
rible,  like  the  wheels  Ezekiel  saw  that  reached  from 
earth  to  heaven;  full  of  eyes  before  and  behind; 
complicated,  wheel  within  wheel ;  and  yet  moving  all 
in  one  direction,  because  they  fulfilled  the  purpose  of 
God;  but  no  man  can  fathom  such  divine  mechan¬ 
ism. 

The  mystery  compels  us  to  bow  before  it  as  His 
Word.  But  mystery  never  once  touches  duty.  “The 
secret  things  belong  to  the  Lord  our  God,  there 
things  revealed  belong  to  us  and  to  our  children, 
even  all  the  words  of  this  Law.” 

When  reason  decides  that  this  is  God’s  Word  then 
we  are  prepared  for  the  venture  of  faith.  If  there 
remain  about  the  character  or  nature  of  God,  the 
awards  of  the  future,  the  elective  purposes  of  God, 
and  their  consistency  with  man’s  freedom,  the  im¬ 
mutability  of  God  and  its  consistency  with  the  doc¬ 
trine  of  prayer,  much  that  we  cannot  understand  or 
reconcile ;  we  must  lay  it  to  the  weakness  of  our  vis¬ 
ion,  and  the  obscurity  of  the  medium  through  which 
we  look,  and  not  attribute  it  to  contradiction  in  God 
Himself. 

We  shall  stumble  over  this  doctrine  of  the  Lord’s 
second  coming  if  we  try  to  bring  down  the  things  of 

464 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


heaven  to  the  low  level  of  earth.  When  Christ 
comes  again  it  will  be  on  a  scale  of  grandeur  and 
magnificence  for  which  human  experience  furnishes 
no  adequate  terms.  When  God  would  express  celes¬ 
tial  things  He  must  use  a  human  dialect,  necessarily 
imperfect,  because  all  language,  intelligible  to  us, 
must  be  on  our  level.  We  must,  therefore,  wait  for 
the  day  itself  to  unfold  and  reveal  what  the  Holy 
Ghost  can  but  partly  reveal  now,  because  our  eyes 
are  inadequate  fully  to  discern  spiritual  things. 

The  Lord’s  coming,  being  so  important,  as  a  center 
of  Biblical  doctrine,  must  be  equally  so,  as  center  of 
Biblical  practice.  Again  reverting  to  the  ellipse,  the 
middle  of  the  axis  (E)  may  stand  for  the  present 
viewpoint.  Let  us  bear  in  mind  that  every  point  in 
the  circumference  bears  a  proportionate  relation  to 
each  of  the  foci 

If  we  conceive  this  ellipse  as  pertaining  to  the  in¬ 
finities  of  God,  it  will  be  seen  that  to  the  observer 
(at  E),  a  point  in  this  circumference  (F),  though 
moved  toward  the  right  or  the  left,  will  not  vary 
essentially  in  its  relative  apparent  position ,  on  ac¬ 
count  of  its  exalted  height  above  the  axis,  like  a  re¬ 
mote  star  in  the  sky.  “One  day  is  with  the  Lord  as 
a  thousand  years.”  The  earthly  base  line  may  seem 
broad,  but  how  narrow  the  angle  that  line  subtends ! 
So,  as  to  the  comparative  remoteness  of  our  Lord’s 
coming  from  the  time  of  His  incarnation;  though 
the  earthly  base  line  may  be  2,000  years  or  more, 
the  angle  between  the  lines  that  ascend  from  its  ex- 

465 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 

treme  points,  is  very  acute.  The  time  which  seems 
long  to  us,  is  nothing  to  the  Eternal. 

If,  then,  we  draw  a  line  from  this  supposed  posi¬ 
tion  of  the  observer  to  a  point  in  this  circumference, 
and  another  down  to  the  point  C,  one  will  represent 
the  upward  look  of  the  believer  towards  Christ,  and 
the  other  will  represent  the  descent  of  Christ  at  His 
coming. 

The  Lord’s  coming,  being  viewed  from  the  New 
Testament  point,  especially,  two  words  that  have  to 
do  with  it  need  first  to  be  explained:  Imminence 
and  eminence.  Imminence  means  certainty,  as  a  re¬ 
vealed  fact,  and  uncertainty  as  to  time.  These  to¬ 
gether  constitute  an  overhanging  event,  always  liable 
to  occur,  and  lead  the  believer  to  be  perpetually 
looking  for  and  waiting  for  the  coming.  If  the  time 
had  been  revealed,  there  could  not,  in  the  nature 
of  the  case,  be  a  perpetual  looking  for  it ;  for  inter¬ 
posing  His  millennial  reign,  between  the  two  advents, 
makes  impossible  this  posture  and  is  enough  to  con¬ 
demn  it,  for  all  the  warnings  of  Christ  touching  its 
imminence,  and  our  watchfulness  with  reference  to 
it,  become  absurd  and  farcical,  if  the  Lord’s  coming 
is  not  to  introduce  the  millennial  reign  but  end  it; 
and  we  need  not  be  on  the  constant  watch  for  the 
signs  of  its  approach. 

Eminence  means  prominence;  rising  above  all 
else.  In  the  New  Testament  this  is  the  one  eminent 
event  that  surpasses,  in  dignity  and  importance,  even 
His  incarnation,  and  the  coming  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

4 66 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


The  diagram  hints  at  both  imminence  and  eminence. 
To  the  observer,  looking  into  infinite  heights,  Christ 
appears  an  exalted  object,  and  His  coming  must  have 
like  eminence  by  the  height  to  which  He  is  exalted; 
and  will  have  imminence,  by  the  fact  that,  to  the 
observer,  this  point  is  so  lofty  as  to  be  always  in  the 
zenith.  No  earthly  base  line  alters  the  relative  posi¬ 
tion  of  an  object,  which  is  so  high  above  as  always 
to  seem  overhead.  So  Jesus  Christ  is  the  star  in 
the  zenith  to  every  true  believer,  and  however  long 
He  waits  before  He  comes,  He  will  still  be  in  the 
zenith. 

The  eminence  of  this  event  also  depends  upon  this, 
that  His  coming  is  the  hinge  upon  which  everything 
else  turns.  In  its  relation  to  Christian  living,  it  is 
the  practical  center.  There  are  three  graces — faith, 
hope  and  love ;  then  there  is  the  external  conduct,  or 
good  works;  and  the  decline  of  all  Christian  char¬ 
acter,  which  is  apostasy. 

If,  therefore,  this  doctrine  is  expected  to  have  a 
predominant  influence  upon  holy  living,  that  second 
Advent  will  be  urged  as  a  great  incentive.  Let  us 
take  a  representative  passage  from  each  of  the  five 
epistle  writers,  beginning  with  Paul,  the  apostle  of 
faith.  “For  the  grace  of  God  that  bringeth  salvation 
hath  appeared  to  all  men,  teaching  us  that,  denying 
ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts,  we  should  live  so¬ 
berly,  righteously  and  godly  in  this  present  age, 
looking  for  that  blessed  hope,  and  the  Epiphany  of 
the  glory  of  the  great  God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus 

467 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


Christ,  who  gave  himself  for  us,  that  he  might  re¬ 
deem  us  from  all  iniquity  and  purify  unto  himself  a 
peculiar  people,  zealous  of  good  works”  (Titus  ii: 
11-13).  The  word  epiphany  means  a  coming  out 
from  obscuration,  as  when  in  the  shipwreck  in  the 
Mediterranean,  “neither  sun  nor  stars  in  many  days 
appeared” — “had  their  epiphany.”  “The  grace  of 
God  that  bringeth  salvation  to  all  men”  had  its 
epiphany  in  our  Lord's  incarnation,  teaching  us  how 
to  live  in  this  present  evil  age,  which  is  the  base  line 
subtending  this  whole  arc,  and  “looking  for  that 
blessed  hope  and  the  glorious  epiphany  of  the  great 
God  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ” — that  expresses 
the  upward  look  of  the  believer  toward  the  descend¬ 
ing  Christ. 

Thus,  Paul  says :  The  epiphany  of  grace  is  past ; 
the  epiphany  of  glory  is  future;  and  there  is  the  in¬ 
termediate  evil  age.  By  looking  back  to  this  epiph¬ 
any  of  grace,  as  the  foundation  of  salvation  in  the 
dying  and  risen  Christ;  and  by  looking  forward  to 
the  epiphany  of  glory,  as  the  consummation  of  that 
salvation  in  the  returning  Lord,  the  believer  is  en¬ 
abled  to  live  soberly — maintaining  holy  self  control ; 
righteously — honoring  all  his  relations  with  his  fel¬ 
low  men;  godly,  fulfilling  duties  and  obligations  to 
God.  If  all  motive  in  holy  living  is  sufficiently  sup¬ 
plied  by  the  past  revelation  of  grace,  why  does  he  in¬ 
sist  that  we  must  look  forward  to  the  epiphany  of 
glory  in  order  to  the  complete  incentives  to  godli¬ 
ness? 


468 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


Peter,  the  apostle  of  hope,  writes  of  “an  inheri¬ 
tance  incorruptible,  undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not 
away,  reserved  in  heaven  for  you,  who  are  kept  by 
the  power  of  God  through  faith  unto  salvation  ready 
to  be  revealed  in  the  last  time”  (1  Peter  i:3,  5).  A 
salvation,  not  already  revealed,  but  ready  to  be  re¬ 
vealed  in  the  last  time.  And  again  “That  the  trial  of 
your  faith,  *  *  *  might  be  found  unto  praise  and 
honor  and  glory  at  the  appearing  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Whom,  having  not  seen,  ye  love;  in  whom,  though 
now  ye  see  him  not,  yet  believing,  ye  rejoice  with 
joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory ;  receiving  the  end 
(the  consummation)  of  your  faith,  even  the  salva¬ 
tion  of  your  souls”  (verse  7).  Not  a  word  about  a 
salvation  completed  at  the  cross.  Christ’s  resurrec¬ 
tion  from  the  dead  only  started  that  salvation  as 
our  begetting  unto  the  living  hope,  which  is  fixed 
on  a  salvation,  reserved  in  heaven  for  us  who  are 
reserved  for  it.  We  are  to  receive  the  end  of  our 
faith,  even  the  salvation  of  our  souls,  at  the  appear¬ 
ing  of  Jesus  Christ.  That  upward  look  is  prophetic 
and  forecasts  and  foretastes,  even  in  the  present 
life,  that  consummated  salvation  that  awaits  us  when 
He  comes. 

Again  “Hope  to  the  end  for  the  grace  that  is  to 
be  brought  unto  you  at  the  (verse  13)  revelation  of 
Jesus  Christ”  which  implies  that  His  incarnation 
was  rather  a  disguise.  He  came  in  humiliation,  a 
king  in  essential  character,  but  robed  in  humanity; 
and  only  once — in  His  Transfiguration — this  dis- 

469 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


guise  was  laid  aside,  so  that  the  star  of  empire  was 
clearly  seen,  gleaming  on  His  breast!  When  He 
comes  again  it  will  be  in  the  glory  of  His  Father, 
with  the  holy  angels,  the  true  revelation  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Moreover  “the  grace  to  be  brought”  at  such 
revelation,  implies  as  yet  only  a  little  foretaste  of  it. 
Peter  evidently  thought  the  Lord’s  coming  a  mighty 
factor  in  the  development  of  hope. 

What  has  John,  the  apostle  of  Love,  to  say  about 
it?  “Beloved,  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God,  and 
it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be;  but  we 
know  that  when  he  shall  appear  we  shall  be  like 
him ;  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is.  And  every  man 
that  hath  this  hope  in  him  purifieth  himself,  even  as 
he  is  pure”  (1  John  iii:2).  In  his  opinion  nothing 
helps  to  the  purification  of  character  like  this  blessed 
hope!  Again  “Whosoever  shall  confess  that  Jesus 
is  the  son  of  God,  God  dwelleth  in  him  and  he  in 
God.  Herein  is  our  love  made  perfect,  that  we  may 
have  boldness  in  the  day  of  judgment;  because  as 
he  is,  so  are  we  in  this  world”  (iv :1 5,  19).  The 
believer  confesses  Christ  in  the  face  of  an  opposing, 
perhaps  persecuting  age;  and,  when  this  world  is 
dissolving,  the  elements  melting  with  fervent  heat, 
and  he  seeks  a  solid  standing  place,  lo,  the  Son  of 
God  appears  in  his  behalf:  you  “confessed  Me  be¬ 
fore  a  gainsaying  world;  I  confess  you  before  My 
Father  and  the  holy  angels.”  He  who  with  his  eye 
fixed  on  Christ’s  second  coming,  has  courage  to  con- 

470 


The  Mystery  of  History. 

fess  Him  in  the  face  of  opposition,  shall  in  the  day 
of  final  judgment  have  boldness. 

What  has  the  apostle  of  good  works  to  say  on  the 
same  subject?  Hath  not  God  chosen  the  poor  of 
this  world  rich  in  faith,  and  heirs  of  the  kingdom 
which  he  hath  promised  to  them  that  love  him?” 
(Jas.  ii:5).  In  those  days  disciples  were,  for  Christ’s 
sake,  taking  joyfully  the  spoiling  of  their  goods. 
Their  gaze  again  is  directed  to  His  coming  when 
the  kingdom  is  to  be  set  up,  and  the  poor  in  this 
world  shall  inherit  the  kingdom,  and,  having  shared 
Christ’s  humiliation,  shall  share  His  exaltation.  “Be 
patient  therefore,  brethren,  unto  the  coming  of  the 
Lord.  Behold,  the  husbandman  waiteth  for  the 
precious  fruit  of  the  earth,  and  hath  long  patience 
for  it  until  he  receive  the  early  and  latter  rain.  Be 
ye  also  patient,  stablish  your  hearts  for  the  coming 
of  the  Lord  draweth  nigh”  (v:7).  Just  as  when  a 
man  steeping  his  seed  in  tears,  plants  it,  waters  it, 
watches  over  its  germination  and  growth,  and  waits 
for  the  harvest,  so  the  apostle  says:  “In  all  your 
labors  be  patient.  The  harvest  will  not  come  till  He 
Himself  comes,  so  that  the  Lord’s  appearing  is  the 
day  of  harvesting.” 

Jude,  the  prophet  of  the  apostasy,  says :  “But  ye, 
beloved,  building  up  yourselves  on  your  most  holy 
faith,  praying  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  keep  yourselves  in 
the  love  of  God,  looking  for  the  mercy  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  unto  eternal  life.”  What  is  more  vital 
to  spiritual  life  than  to  keep  myself  in  the  love  (20, 

471 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


21)  of  God,  as  a  plant  needs  to  keep  in  the  sunshine 
to  keep  growing? 

How  do  we  keep  ourselves  in  the  love  of  God  ?  By 
building  up  ourselves  on  our  most  holy  faith  through 
a  growing  knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scriptures ;  by 
praying  in  the  Holy  Ghost  as  the  divine  element  in 
which  we  live  and  breathe ;  and,  associated  with  the 
others,  as  a  necessary  part  of  this  Christian  culture, 
is  “looking  for  the  mercy  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
unto  eternal  life” — not  back  to  what  He  did  on  the 
cross,  only,  but  forward  to  the  mercy  to  be  revealed 
when  He  comes.  So  all  these  Epistle  writers  pre¬ 
sent  as  the  preeminent  point  on  which  to  fix  our 
vision,  the  coming  of  the  Lord. 

Faith,  in  New  Testament  usage,  means,  first,  the 
acceptance  of  truth,  and  second,  the  bond  of  union 
with  Christ.  By  a  true  conception  of  His  second 
coming,  faith  is  vitalized,  energized,  quickened.  As 
an  intellectual  process  of  receiving  revealed  truth, 
faith  depends  largely  upon  perception— clear  appre¬ 
hension.  What  is  vague,  indistinct,  obscure,  be¬ 
comes  proportionately  difficult  to  perceive  and  re¬ 
ceive,  but  when  it  becomes  clear  and  obvious,  be¬ 
cause  we  have  a  transparent  medium  through  which 
to  look,  believing  becomes  correspondingly  easy  and 
satisfactory.  Biblical  conceptions  of  the  Lord’s 
coming  get  mists  and  clouds  out  of  our  way;  pre¬ 
senting  before  us  something  easily  apprehended  by 
the  faith  of  a  child. 

The  prophetic,  priestly  and  kingly  periods  are  re- 

472 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


lated  to  Christ  Himself.  Peter  writes,  “That  the 
Spirit  of  Christ ,  which  was  in  the  prophets,”  “tes¬ 
tified  beforehand  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ  and 
glory  that  shall  follow,”  so  that  this  prophetic  peri¬ 
od  belongs  to  His  mediatorial  work,  though  He  had 
not  yet  been  manifested,  as  a  prophet  Himself,  not 
yet  incarnate — the  very  spirit  of  prophecy  being  the 
Spirit  of  Christ ,  forecasting  His  future. 

As  to  the  priesthood,  was  not  He  the  Lamb  of 
God,  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  but 
manifested  in  these  latter  times  for  those  who,  by 
Him,  do  believe  in  God,  who  raised  Him  up  and 
gave  Him  the  glory,  that  their  faith  and  hope  might 
be  in  God?  This  exhibition  of  the  whole  scope  of 
His  mediatorial  work,  systematizes  the  whole  sub¬ 
ject,  relieves  it  from  difficulty,  and  dissipates  the 
mist  so  often  confounded  with  mystery.  Whoever 
knows  what  it  is  to  walk  in  the  light  through  this 
truth,  becomes  intensely  earnest  in  its  advocacy, 
from  the  desire  that  others  should  see  Scripture 
teaching  in  the  same  luminous  aspect. 

Many  other  things  are  simplified  by  the  Scriptural 
view  of  the  Lord’s  coming.  For  instance,  there  are 
distinctions  of  which  the  New  Testament  never  loses 
sight,  and  which  help  greatly  in  understanding  the 
Scriptures.  Four  or  five  terms  are  used,  but  never 
confused:  “the  whole  creation;”  “the  Gentiles”  or 
“nations,”  or  “the  world;”  “the  Jews,”  or  “Israel,” 
and  “the  Church  of  God.”  These  terms  are  never 
equivalent  or  interchangeable.  The  whole  creation, 

473 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


the  all-embracing  term,  seems  to  include  even  the 
lower  orders  of  animals,  and  created  matter.  Paul 
writes  (in  i  Cor.  x:32)  “Giving  none  offence, 
neither  to  the  Jews  nor  to  the  Gentiles ,  nor  to  the 
Church  of  God.”  If  not  distinct,  why  did  He  care¬ 
fully  distinguish  them? 

We  have  already  noted  the  distinction  between 
matter  worlds  and  time  worlds.  When  “eon,”  or 
“age”  is  translated  “world,”  confusion  results  as 
when  we  read  of  “those  that  have  tasted  the  powers 
of  the  world ” — literally  the  “ age,  to  come,” — mean¬ 
ing  those  who,  in  this  age,  standing  thus  between 
the  first  and  second  advents,  anticipate  the  glory  of 
the  coming  millennial  age.  Again,  Christ  “gave 
Himself  for  our  sins  that  He  might  deliver  us 
from  this  present  evil  age.  “I  am  with  you  even 
unto  the  end  of  the  age.”  Of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
Christ  says  He  is  to  be  with  disciples  for  the  age . 

Another  distinction  is  always  made  between  the 
three  resurrections:  The  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ; 
the  resurrection,  from  the  dead,  of  the  saints  at  His 
coming ;  and  the  resurrection  of  the  dead ,  a  thousand 
years  after.”  As  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ 
shall  all  be  made  alive.  But  every  man  in  his  own 
order:  Christ  the  first-fruits;  afterwards  they  that 
are  Christ’s  at  his  coming.  Then,  the  end,  when 
he  shall  have  delivered  up  the  kingdom  to  God  and 
the  Father”  (i  Cor.  xv:22).  Notice:  “every  man 
in  his  own  order,”  or  military  rank.  The  two  Greek 
words,  epeita  and  eita,  are  correlative,  like  “now” 

474 


The  Mystery  of  History. 

and  “then.”  If  epeita  covers  already  nearly  2,000 
years  between  Christ’s  resurrection  and  the  coming 
resurrection  of  the  dead  saints,  why  should  we  find 
any  difficulty  in  the  fact  that  eita  covers  at  least 
1,000  years  between  the  rising  of  those  saints  and 
of  the  rest  of  the  dead  ?  Eita  does  cover  that  period, 
for  so  are  we  taught  in  Revelation  xx:4,  5:  “And 
they  lived  and  reigned  with  Christ  a  thousand 
years;”  “but  the  rest  of  the  dead  lived  not  again 
until  the  thousand  years  were  finished.”  Thus  we 
have  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  as  the  first-fruits; 
epeita,  afterwards,  of  them  that  are  Christ’s  at  His 
coming ;  eita,  then  the  end,  after  the  thousand  years, 
when  the  rest  of  the  dead  live  again — three  resur¬ 
rections,  separated  by  these  intervals  of  time. 

This  helps  us  to  understand  what  Paul  means  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  (iii:10)  where  he 
uses  a  word  only  found  there:  “If  by  any  means 
I  might  attain  to  ( ex-anastasis )  the  elect  resurrec¬ 
tion ”  out  from  the  general  mass  of  the  dead.  When 
Christ  arose  it  was  such  an  ex-anastasis,  and  Paul 
counted  everything  but  loss  to  know  the  power  of 
His  resurrection,  and  attain  to  a  like  ex-anastasis. 

He  knew  that  he  would  rise;  but  he  desired  to 
have  part  in  the  first  resurrection  of  saints,  who  at 
Christ’s  coming,  rise  to  have  partnership  with  Him 
in  His  reign — that  “better  resurrection”  reserved 
for  “those  that  are  Christ’s,  at  His  coming”;  and 
are  “counted  worthy  to  attain  that  world,  and  the 
resurrection  from  among  the  dead.” 

475 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


With  regard  to  faith,  as  a  bond  of  union  between 
ourselves  and  Jesus  Christ,  what  effect  has  this 
Blessed  Hope?  The  most  important  phrase  in  the 
New  Testament  is  one  of  two  little  words:  ‘‘In 
Christ,”  upon  which  every  epistle  in  the  New  Tes¬ 
tament  hinges.  What  is  the  idea  of  being  in  Christ? 
By  faith  the  believer  enters  into  Christ,  becoming  a 
member  of  His  mystical  body,  so  that  everything 
that  He  did  and  suffered  in  His  representative  life 
on  earth  the  disciple  is  reckoned  as  having  done 
or  suffered  in  Him.  In  His  birth,  through  the 
Holy  Spirit,  he  is  born  from  above;  in  His  cir¬ 
cumcision  he  puts  off  the  sins  of  the  flesh;  in  His 
temptation  he  is  victorious ;  in  His  crucifixion,  cruc¬ 
ified,  and  in  His  burial,  buried ;  in  His  resurrection 
he  is  counted  as  having  risen;  in  His  ascension  as 
having  ascended  to  the  heavenlies ;  in  His  session  at 
God’s  right  hand,  as  seated  with  Him  in  heaven; 
and  when  He  comes  again  he  will  come  with  Him 
in  glory.  Faith  means  union  with  Christ,  and  His 
coming,  the  consummation  of  that  union.  Such  an 
event  therefore  appeals  to  faith  as  the  bond  of  fel¬ 
lowship  with  the  Lord,  and  He  Himself  looks  for¬ 
ward  to  His  Advent,  as  His  own  consummation, 
because  it  is  the  consummation  to  His  saints;  and 
His  joy  in  that  day  is  in  part  due  to  His  satisfac¬ 
tion  in  the  exaltation  and  exultation  of  His  saints, 
whom  He  presents  faultless  before  the  presence  of 
His  Father. 

How  does  the  coming  of  the  Lord  affect  hope f 

476 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


Hope  depends  for  its  inspiration  upon  first,  a  sub¬ 
lime  or  exalted  object ;  second,  the  warrant  of  Scrip¬ 
ture  promise;  and  third,  the  confirmation  of  expe¬ 
rience.  Hope,  centered  on  the  second  coming  of 
the  Lord  in  glory,  has  the  sublimest  object  that  can 
engage  it — the  Saviour,  glorious  in  His  coronation. 
Whatever  in  the  prophetic  or  priestly  periods  en¬ 
grossed  and  absorbed  the  believer’s  mind  and  heart, 
will  then  have  added  to  it  regal  glory  and  dignity; 
while  he  himself  wdll  be  perfected  in  Christ’s  like¬ 
ness.  No  wonder  “The  Blessed  Hope”  is  known  in 
the  New  Testament  as  the  consummation  of  all  ex¬ 
pectation. 

This  highest  hope  finds  its  sanction  in  the  author¬ 
ity  of  Holy  Scripture,  inspired  by  a  multitude  of 
promises,  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 
Does  it  find  confirmation  in  actual  experience? 

In  Proverbs  we  are  told  that  “hope,  deferred, 
maketh  the  heart  sick.”  There  are  two  phases 
of  teaching  as  to  the  office  of  the  church  in  the 
world:  one  is,  that  it  is  commissioned  to  convert 
the  world ;  that  it  is  to  grow  like  the  mustard  seed, 
spreading  its  branches  far  and  wide  until  it  covers 
the  globe:  that  the  world  is  to  be  assimilated  to 
the  church,  hid,  as  in  the  meal,  until  the  whole 
lump  is  leavened.  It  certainly  bears  against  this 
view,  that  the  dough  expands  by  a  process  of  fer¬ 
mentation,  which  is  a  stage  of  decay,  and  that  leaven 
is  always  in  the  Word  of  God  the  symbol  of  cor¬ 
ruption. 


477 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


The  natural  result  of  the  acceptance  of  this  theory 
is,  that,  as  the  world  is  not  converted,  we  must 
charge  the  church  with  failure  and  guilt,  in  not 
pushing  the  work  with  sufficient  energy;  and  it 
must  increase  in  activity,  fervor  and  enthusiasm. 
If  the  mission  of  the  church,  in  this  dispensation,  is 
to  convert  the  world,  there  must  be  grievous  fault 
somewhere,  as  there  are  no  signs  of  success  as  yet, 
and,  after  nineteen  hundred  years  only  disastrous 
failure. 

The  other  view  is  that  the  church  is  in  the  world 
to  gather  out  God’s  believing  body  of  people  from 
the  nations ,  as  a  nucleus ;  and  gather  in  such  saved 
souls,  regenerated  by  the  Spirit  into  the  one  mysti¬ 
cal  Body  of  Christ;  that  the  church’s  mission  is  to 
bear  witness  to  the  world,  and  to  every  creature; 
and,  as  soon  as  this  elect  company  is  fully  gathered 
out  from  the  nations,  so  that  His  mystical  Body  be¬ 
comes  complete,  the  Head  will  appear  and  the  Body 
will  be  associated  with  Him  in  glory. 

The  writer  began  his  ministry  fifty  years  ago, 
confident  that  the  church  is  destined  to  convert 
the  world  in  this  age,  and  endeavored  to  do  his  part 
in  this  work,  preaching  with  enthusiasm,  ardor  and 
conviction,  expecting  to  see  his  whole  congrega¬ 
tion  converted.  This  hope  was  never  realized ;  here 
and  there  a  few  were  gathered  out,  and  so  it  con¬ 
tinued  to  be  through  all  the  years  of  the  half  cen¬ 
tury.  Many  of  us  have  rejoiced  to  see  God’s  Spirit 
working,  converting  many  souls  under  our  preach- 

478 


The  Mystery  of  History. 

ing,  but  who  has  ever  yet  seen  a  whole  congrega¬ 
tion  thus  brought  to  Christ,  every  hearer  being  also 
a  believer,  and  a  whole  community  transformed  into 
a  true  church?  If  there  be  any  such  case,  it  is  sadly 
exceptional. 

The  gospel  has  been  preached  for  nineteen  cen¬ 
turies,  Mr.  George  Muller,  of  Bristol,  solemnly  said, 
“Probably  not  more  than  ten  millions  of  souls,  now 
living,  are  regenerate.”  Meanwhile  heathenism  and 
Mohammedanism  grow  more  rapidly,  by  natural 
births,  than  the  church  by  new  births.  How  sick  at 
heart  from  hope  deferred  must  they  be,  who,  labor¬ 
ing  all  their  lives,  expecting  to  see  the  world  con¬ 
verted,  are  yet  compelled  to  confess,  that  the  great 
proportion  of  the  human  race  does  not  even  know 
about  Christ,  thus  far,  and  that  even  the  large  ma¬ 
jority  of  members  of  the  nominal  church  have 
never  experienced  the  regenerating  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  hope  which  the  Word 
holds  up  before  us,  in  this  dispensation,  is  not  the 
conversion  but  the  evangelization  of  the  world ;  and 
we  are  simply,  like  our  Saviour,  to  bear  our  witness 
and  gather  out  those  whom  the  Father  hath  given 
to  Christ,  this  hope,  the  actual  facts  so  far  confirm 
and  fulfil ,  for  this  is  exactly  what  is  being  done. 
Our  hope,  being  Scripturally  warranted,  is  not  de- 
*  feated,  nor  even  deferred;  our  hearts  are  not  made 
sick,  for  our  hope  finds  confirmation  in  actual  expe¬ 
rience. 


479 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


When  we  think  we  have  indulged  a  Scriptural 
hope,  but  facts  only  disappoint  us,  the  consequence 
is  often  very  serious.  We  begin  to  doubt  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  perhaps  even  their  inspiration  and  infal¬ 
libility;  or  lose  confidence  that  we  are  ourselves 
true  messengers  of  Christ,  because  God  does  not 
confirm  His  Word  by  signs  following. 

Hope,  thus  disappointed  by  actual  results  may 
become  a  snare,  and  lead  to  infidelity ;  because,  per¬ 
petually  baffled,  it  weakens  confidence  in  God  and 
His  Word.  He  who  builds  on  what  is  believed  to  be 
a  divine  promise,  but  which  is  not  fulfilled,  naturally 
asks  if  it  is  safe  to  build  at  all  on  this  Word  of  God. 
The  apostles  went  out  from  the  presence  of  the 
Council,  and  said,  “And  now,  Lord,  behold  their 
threat enings,  and  grant  unto  thy  servants,  that  with 
all  boldness  they  may  speak  Thy  word ,  by  stretching 
forth  Thy  hand  to  heal  ”  All  workers  for  God  have 
a  like  right  to  challenge  Him,  to  infuse  new  courage 
into  their  souls,  by  standing  by  them  in  the  fulfil¬ 
ment  of  His  promises!  The  only  way  to  keep  us 
bold  for  His  service,  is  to  confirm  our  faith  and  hope 
from  time  to  time  by  appropriate  results.  The  view 
of  Scripture  teaching,  above  presented,  is  very 
precious  to  those  who  hold  it,  because  it  has  in  them 
been  the  birth  of  a  new  hope,  never  brought  to  con¬ 
fusion. 

This  blessed  Hope  puts  rewards  where  they  be-  • 
long,  at  His  coming.  “Behold  I  come  quickly,  and 
my  reward  is  with  me,  to  give  every  man  according 

480 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


as  his  work  shall  be”  (Revelation  xxii:12).  His 
servants  and  stewards  are  not  to  expect  their  reward 
till  He  appears,  and  then  the  recompense  will  be 
gloriously  abundant.  “Other  foundation  can  no 
man  lay  than  that  is  laid,  which  is  Jesus  Christ. 
Now  if  any  man  build,  upon  this  foundation,  gold, 
silver,  precious  stones,  wood,  hay,  stubble;  every 
man’s  work  shall  be  made  manifest:  for  the  day 
shall  declare  it,  because  it  shall  be  revealed  by  fire; 
and  the  fire  shall  try  every  man’s  work  of  what  sort 
it  is”  (i  Cor.  iii  :n). 

What  is  the  admonition?  The  believer  has  built 
on  Jesus  Christ.  Let  him  take  care  what  kind  of 
materials  he  uses  in  building.  Are  they  gold,  silver, 
precious  stones,  consistent  with  the  foundation? 
Will  they  stand  the  ordeal  of  fire?  Or,  like  the  wood 
and  hay  and  stubble,  of  which  those  huts  or  hovels 
were  built,  in  the  swamps,  near  the  temple  of  Eph¬ 
esus,  will  what  we  build  be  swept  away  in  the  con¬ 
flagration  of  judgment !  When  the  Lord  comes  He 
will  try  our  work,  as  by  fire.  Those  who  have  built 
on  Him,  as  a  foundation,  will  be  saved,  even  though, 
like  a  man  fleeing  out  of  a  burning  house  with  the 
timbers  falling  around  him,  they  are  “saved,  as  by 
fire;”  but  if,  on  that  foundation,  has  been  built  ma¬ 
terial  appropriate  to  it  and  like  unto  it,  in  the  ordeal 
of  fire  it  will  stand  and  glow  with  lustre  like  prec¬ 
ious  gems  when  the  light  shines  upon  them  and 
irradiates  them  with  rainbow  hues. 

Such  is  the  time  of  reward.  When  Peter  said, 

481 


The  Bible  and  Spiritual  Life. 


“Lo,  we  have  left  all  and  followed  thee;  what  shall 
we  have  therefore?”  Jesus  answered,  “Ye,  which 
have  followed  me”  (in  my  humiliation)  “in  the 
Regeneration”  (or  reconstruction,  notice  when) 
“when  the  Son  of  man  shall  sit  on  the  throne  of  his 
glory,  ye  also  shall  sit  on  twelve  thrones  judging  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel.” 

The  reward  comes  when  the  Lord  comes.  It  is  a 
very  small  matter  to  be  judged  by  man's  judgment 
— in  mans  Day — (margin)  ;  let  us  study  to  show 
ourselves  approved  unto  God,  and  not  seek  to  gather 
our  rewards  here,  either  in  compensation  to  our 
purse  or  in  honor  to  our  person;  but  look  for  His 
coming,  willing  to  have  the  crown  of  life,  of  right¬ 
eousness,  of  glory  deferred  until  He  Himself  is 
crowned. 

How  could  this  hope  but  have  a  quickening  effect 
on  Love!  Remember  what  it  is  to  be  in  Christ;  that 
He  is  coming  again  to  receive  you  unto  Himself, 
and  cannot  Himself  be  satisfied  until  His  bride  sits 
with  Him  on  His  throne.  Was  ever  bridegroom  sat¬ 
isfied  with  what  his  bride  did  not  share?  Can  the 
Head  be  crowned  without  the  Body  being  also  hon¬ 
ored,  enthroned?  Nothing  is  so  fitted  to  inspire  and 
increase  love  for  the  Master  as  that  He  looks  for¬ 
ward  to  His  coming  as  our  coronation;  that  His  joy 
will  be  to  present  us  faultless,  blameless,  holy,  unre- 
provable,  so  that  even  the  omniscient  eye  shall  find 
in  us  no  relic  or  remnant  of  sin ! 

During  the  American  war  for  the  Union,  a 

482 


The  Mystery  of  History. 


strange  sight  was  seen  in  a  western  city.  The  day 
was  very  dark,  and  the  rain  had  been  descending  in 
torrents.  But,  high  up  on  the  brow  of  the  moun¬ 
tain  that  overlooks  the  city,  the  national  flag  was 
seen  waving,  bathed  in  the  only  beam  of  sunshine 
that  lighted  the  whole  landscape.  The  clouds  had 
parted  at  such  a  point,  that  this  one  rift  opened  the 
way  for  the  sunbeams  to  rest  directly  on  the  star- 
spangled  banner,  and  the  crowds  stood  admiring  and 
wondering,  as  they  saw  the  flag  of  the  Republic, 
waving  in  the  breeze  and  glorified  by  sunshine.  How 
that  flag  came  there  was  a  mystery.  It  transpired 
that  an  exploring  party  had  gone  up  for  some  meas¬ 
urements  and  had  chanced  to  set  the  flag  there,  at 
the  precise  moment  when  that  solitary  rift  in  the 
clouds  permitted  the  sunlight  to  flash  radiance  upon 
it.  By  a  curious  coincidence,  on  that  very  day,  Fort 
Donelson  was  captured  and  the  war  for  the  Union 
turned  its  crisis ! 

Fellow  believers,  thick  darkness  covers  the  firma¬ 
ment.  Despite  many  clouds  and  severe  storms  there 
is  a  rift  in  the  clouds,  and  God’s  golden  sunbeam 
rests  upon  that  Banner  of  our  Hope — the  Lord’s 
second  coming!  Keep  your  eye  on  that  blessed 
Hope  and  you  will  turn  the  crises  of  life,  gloriously; 
patient  in  sorrow  and  suffering,  in  unrewarded  and 
unrequited  toil,  in  unrecognized  and  unappreciated 
service  and  suffering  for  humanity.  Faith  will  be 
quickened,  hope  transfixed,  love  glorified.  Keep 
your  eye  on  the  Lord’s  own  Banner,  and  pray  Him 
to  hasten  His  coming. 


483 


7 


, 

.  ’ 


r, 


\ 


Date  Due 


Princeton 


iMiCii°^'ca*  Seminary- 


•Speer  Library 


1  1012  01003  5741 


